Asphalt work makes my ears pop...?

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I realize that may sound weird...but a lot of times if I end up walking by or am in a vehicle with open windows and go buy construction work involving asphalt where I can smell it a lot of times it makes my ears pop. Has anyone else had that? I mentioned it to my boyfriend and he says he hasn't gotten that reaction to smelling it.

I know my ears also pop with altitude changes, but that's normal...I used to live in the mountains and when we came down to the Denver area from there my ears would pop so that's really the only other thing I have experienced that does that. So it is curious to me that the smell of asphalt would make my ears pop like they do when going through different altitudes.

Hmm maybe I will ask about this on the ask science reddit, if anyone has an explanation for it, its probably scientists.

Could be the heat from the asphalt causing a drop in air pressure. Just speculating, though.

That would be my guess. Hot air rises off of freshly laid hot asphalt. So air pressure drops slightly in that few square years of street. And that might compound a change in air pressure due to changes in altitude you maybe experiencing due to just driving around Colorado.