© Alan Schein/Corbis
Doctors at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit recently treated a patient for ear barotrauma — an imbalance of pressure between the inside and outside of the ear that can cause pain and swelling and even temporary deafness. The condition is most common among people who have been scuba diving or traveling by plane and, more recently, among soldiers exposed to bomb blasts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Yet the 24-year-old patient who began complaining of severe pain in his right ear hadn’t been underwater, above 30,000 feet or in a war zone. Instead, he was riding a rollercoaster and made the mistake of turning to the left to chat with his girlfriend when it hit speeds of 120 miles per hour.
Researchers estimate that the patient’s ear drum was exposed to pressure of about 0.61 pounds per square inch (psi) — within 36 hours, he was complaining of severe pain. When doctors looked into his ears, they found that, while the left one looked completely normal, his right ear canal was swollen and the ear drum inflamed.
The case study was presented last Friday as part of the Combined Otolaryngology Spring Meetings in Las Vegas. Researchers say that, while 0.61 psi isn’t enough to rupture the ear drum, it can certainly cause significant pain (0.62 psi is enough to crush small blood vessels in the hand, they point out).
The patient in this case improved after three days, and researchers say that the injury was a combination of very specific circumstances. Still, they hope it might raise awareness of the potential for ear barotrauma among other rollercoaster enthusiasts. That is, when you’re whipping along in the open air at more than 100 miles per hour, apparently it’s not such a great time to turn your head for a chat.