I just had to learn this, so you do too: The ear is connected to the nose with a tube, and that tube can get full of snot (say, if you have a sinus infection), causing muffled hearing, dizziness & tinnitus, and then you have to blow out ear snot through your nose & your ears POP ☺️ You’re welcome.
Eustachian tube!
Worst tube station ever.
Sounds like a sawn-off snotgun. ...I'll get me coat.
And blowing your nose too hard pushes material into those tubes, where it lingers, and can increase recovery time from a cold.
There's a tooth or two that is connected to the ears via a nerve, a bad toothache can make you aware of this. Happened to me.
and if the Eustachian tube doesn't develop properly, it can cause eardrum retraction, which can lead to developing a cholesteatoma(a cyst made up of dead cells) which can severely damage the bones of the middle ear. Guess who's unfortunate wife has dealt with this since early childhood.
