Do you ever do this before you listen?

Only professionals should do it on a closed course.

"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."

Well hopefully no one will do this to the point that causes damage to their ears. That would make me feel horrible for bringing it up.

So please be careful if you try this technique. Seriously
Now I feel bad :(

I do all the time specially when I’m in the airplane during taking off and landing.

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.

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. 

I do that when I’m in a plane and the cabin pressure starts building as it starts descending. 

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 take my glasses off, as well.

Especially after a skydive(well...from.anything over 13.5K).

It’s called equalizing. This opens the eustacian tubes so that the pressure in the inner ear is equal to the atmospheric pressure outside, and therefore there is no pressure differential across the eardrum. This is the same technique used in scuba diving to avoid a “squeeze”. The eardrum will be in a neutral position and best able to transmit sound through the inner ear bones to the cochlea, where the sonic vibrations are converted to nerve inpulses through specialized hair cells and transmitted to the auditory cortex via cranial nerve VIII.

I don’t do it as you can perforate it and that would ruin this whole hobby in 1 fell swoop

@nonoise 

"ears can be a funny thing and slowly plug up without one being aware of it."

Thats the thing. I had no idea that they were even clogged. I never even think about them being clogged unless i have a cold etc.. but when I cleared them the music revealed itself in an incredible way.  Just have make sure I don't  clear them with two much pressure or my eyes might pop out lol. Then what :) JK.. Now that Im aware I will gently clear them from time to time from now on when listening to music for sure. 

Yes, do it before I listen and again as necessary while listening due to sinus issues.

I do it sometimes, especially when my sinuses act up. Sometimes I do it to ascertain if I hearing something correctly as ears can be a funny thing and slowly plug up without one being aware of it. 

Doing it always seems to improve things but sometimes my ears immediately return to the previous state. Either way, it shows just how we all hear differently due to myriad reasons.

All the best,
Nonoise