I have no idea what that article said other than people hear better when they listen .

I find that when I sit down to listen to music, I listen critically. I'd say that I've gotten much worse at this since I bought my Axioms. There were many details and nuances that I was missing with my Bose/Sony/no-name centre set-up. Now I listen for all of these details and nuances. I'm actually not proud of this and I am trying to break this habit so that I can better relax. I've also found that some types of music bring this out more than others. I don't listen surgically with rock and blues for example but I do with jazz, big-band and some orchestral.

After I finished my hearing test, the audiologist looked at me and said "You listen to music a lot don't you?". And my heart nearly stopped because I thought she was going to confirm my wife's suspicions that I was deaf. I said "yes" and she said "And you listen very critically don't you?". By this time I was very freaked out. She said that this probably explains why my acuity was mutant-like. Apparently you can improve your hearing if you choose to do so by listening surgically.

Interesting, eh?