Ear warmup-acclimatisation

[ClassikFan]

Many of us allow our systems to warm up a bit before settling down for a bit of "critical listening" but has anyone considered letting their ears tune in to what we are about to hear?
The reason this came to my mind was when I switched the HiFi on shortly after a bike ride yesterday. I allowed a brief system warm-up but when I sat down and put on an LP it all sounded a bit muffled and low in volume. It then occurred to me that I had just exposed my ears to nearly two hours of wind noise caused by riding at an average of over 20mph. It is quite noisy but the brain ignores or blocks this background thrum as air moves over the ears. It must take a while for the brain/ears to start allowing the music to register properly?
Maybe 20 minutes of total silence in a soundproof room prior to a listening session would enhance the experience?

 

[bigrod]

Looking after your lugholes should be a mantra ..Always wear ear defenders when using any machinery. Or when the wife goes off on one …
I often hear cars go past with very excessive music volumes and wonder what condition their ear drums will be in 10 years .

 

[zeta4]

I was told, cant remember who by, that you should always wait at least 30mins after arriving for a demo for your ears to acclimatize before critical listening. I have tested it out and yes there is a difference

 

[Nativebon]

Even tho my system has improved considerably with buying new speakers, I can say my system sounds better sometimes than others. This may be due to quality of electrics to state of mind or and ear acclimatisation. Hard to really pin dwn why these changes happen.

 

[Nopiano]

I was told, cant remember who by, that you should always wait at least 30mins after arriving for a demo for your ears to acclimatize before critical listening. I have tested it out and yes there is a difference

That’s definitely the case. The background ‘roar’ of engine and road noise definitely means you need a while to recover before serious listening. I try to go for walk after driving to a Hifi store.