> Wow! That's a wacky discovery, Ken.
>
> Perhaps there is caffeine in the dark ones, something which is a diuretic and
> which might swell your sinus membranes. But there is bound to be someone on
> the List who knows . . .
I first discovered this during a vacation to the east coast back when
I was ten. As we travelled through the mountains (Pennsylvania) my
ears were fine. We stopped for lunch and I had gotten a Coke. For the
next three hours my ears refused to equalize. Several years later I
flew to Europe and on a couple of the flights I had a Coke and coming
back down was pure agony. I cried it hurt so bad. On the other two
flights, no Coke, no problem.
This started the observation and for a couple of years I travelled
full-time with a band. As we travelled through the mountains (which
seemed every couple of weeks), those who drank dark colas suffered,
those who didn't were fine. For the dozen years I travelled for the
broadcast industry, (1 out of every three weeks for 12 years is how it
turned out), this became something I observed on nearly every flight.
Those who drank dark colas had ear troubles when coming down.
Obviously, not everybody, but the majority. You can see it in the
faces and antics. Nose blowing, yawning, crying, grabbing the ears,
grabbing the ears of the person next to them... Clear colas, coffee,
tea, juices, beer, wine? No problem whatsoever.
I've talked to numerous flight attendants about this and my
observation was one of those "bolt out of the blue" moments. To a
person, each of them would drop their jaws and say "you're right!"
It doesn't appear to be caffeine related, because other caffeinated
drinks didn't seem to universally cause the problem. But Coca Cola and
Pepsi specifically are problematic.
I don't fly very often anymore, but when I do, I avoid those drinks
because my own ears are so problematic. Double ear-infection twice as
a child severely damaged my eardrums. Since age three, I've never had
more than 70% of my hearing, but what is unusual is I still have
wide-spectrum sensitivity and can hear up to 20 kHz. About five years
ago, I could actually detect sounds to about 22kHz. My threshold of
pain is also very low. So when at a concert or live event, I always
have earplugs with me. When doing FoH mixing, I mix sound to that
sweet spot between threshold of pain and "ah, I can hear it" point. I
do get complemented a lot because the old people don't complain and
the young people are happy too. I mix loud, but not piercing.
AG EARS
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