"The ear drum covers the entire passage -- that's why your ears pop when your airline flight comes in for a landing. The air in the outer ear cannot quickly equalize pressure with that in the middle ear. The ear drum separates the outer and middle ear canals."
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Is the fit "tight" but not "secure", sometimes temporarily obstructed by excretions? Else, are our ear drums broken whenever we experience a "pop" like that, or is a wider opening through which the pressure is equalized being created through the fluid and mucous which also sometimes occupies that passage? I notice that my ears have to "pop" when my sinuses are congested, but they don't when I'm breathing freely.