Shaking head to withdraw water from ears may cause Brain damage

Emptying water in the Children ear by jerking head may cause Brain damage.

Seattle: In the American Physical Society's Division of Fluid Dynamics annual meeting, students of Cornell University and Virginia Tech presented their study dealing with the acceleration required to remove water from the ear canal of children.

Water entering the ear canal is a general impact obtained during bathing, swimming, or other related activities. The quick action to empty water from the ear in children involves shaking the head at a force to remove the water block.

A new study suggests that the acceleration force involved to empty water from the ear canal in children by jerking the head lead possibly to brain damage, says Cornell University researchers.

The team analyzed the acceleration needed to remove water from the ear canal in children with a 3D printed model silane coated hydrophobic tube closed one side of varying diameters to act as a replica of the human ear. The study provoked a dropping tube with a spring to create the head-shaking strategy.

The study focused only on children and not adults because they create only lower acceleration as they have ear canals of large diameters that traps out the water immediately. 

Anuj Baskota, a Student at the University of Cornell, reveals that the Critical acceleration required to remove water depends on the volume and position of the liquid inside the tube. The study result states that the critical acceleration is more in small tubes amounting to 10g, which may cause serious damages to the brain in children.

The research paper clears that the small size ear canals in children when undergoes shaking head to empty trapped water may cause brain damage due to the higher acceleration, compared to adults.

The technique of shaking head in children requires an alteration method. Researchers suggest dropping low surface tension liquids such as vinegar or alcohol in the ear may help the water to flow out, reducing the surface tension force in ears.