Do you ever do this before you listen?


Hello everyone. I was at an audio store today with a friend that was auditioning a pair of speakers and the salesman told us to clear our ears by pinching the nose then blowing through your nose to make the ears pop (clearing them). I have to admit the music sounded  so much better lol. It makes perfect sense why you would want to do this, but I had just never thought of it. So I thought I would see who else is doing this, and maybe discover some other new tricks. SO what strange things do you do routinely before a listing session? (I know thats a loaded question to ask of this group)
barnettk
Yep, most times at least once during listening; especially if I think things aren't right.Takes the ears out of the equation, at least for me.
I do that when I’m in a plane and the cabin pressure starts building as it starts descending. 

I have done it before for various reasons. Flying, colds etc. just never thought to do it before listening to my system. Makes perfect sense tho. 
rschrot......You are correct in your basic knowledge with the anatomy of the ear. However, that doesn't explain away the danger of someone puffing with a closed nose just to hear their music better.
Extreme pressure can cause damage to ear components. At what point does a person stop puffing to clear what may be an inherent hearing loss. Sure, momentary equalization would allow better hearing. But, there may be other reasons to investigate.
People may not be satisfied with performing the "hold your nose" technique and may try harder. Perhaps simply risking damage to the eardrum or perhaps worse. Besides the eardrum, there are ossicles in the middle ear. Most importantly, those ossicles act on the oval window...consider it an inner eardrum. Then vibrations are transmitted to the cilia (hairlike nerves) in the cochleas where the sound is transmitted to the brain. I could talk about the workings of hearing a lot longer.
In the end, simple ear popping is common and cures a simple situation. But, there are those who may take that to an extreme. Temporary hearing loss is one thing but I would caution listeners who would also take ear popping to the extreme.