Question

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

If you plugged up your nose and mouth right before you sneezed, would the sneeze go out your ears, or would your head explode?

 

[BrianL]

Well, your head would not explode. I do believe that the pressure would be forced to your ears and you could blow-out an eardrum, or you could end up "swallowing" it. I don't think it'd be fun in any case.

 

[goofyernmost]

I saw first hand what happens. I was in 4th grade, about this time of year, and we were having lots of things christmas themed including a group of classmates singing christmas carols. One of the boys was singing along and felt a sneeze coming on and blocked off both his mouth and his nose and this awful high pitched whistle along with a unforgettable scream of pain as the pressure did indeed that the path of least resistance and blew out through his eardrum. It must have been awfully painful because the poor kid dropped to the floor in pain. He did get his full hearing back after a little while (not that day, of course) but he would be in his late 70's now and I don't know if there was a later problem that started right there. My advice is DON'T DO IT! You won't be happy with the results. Nature does not like to be altered.