Lowering ambient noise lets wanted sound play quieter and distort less.

Evidence

One way of reducing the overall sound level being presented in such situations is to reduce the level of the unwanted acoustic background noise being experienced. This has the added advantage of perhaps improving the sound quality of the wanted sound because it can then be presented at a lower level, thereby possibly avoiding any distortion issues due to a high signal presentation level. — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 2563

Categorization

• XREF: Supports the reader’s prior highlight that noise-cancelling works by improving the ratio, not by boosting the signal; connects to the silence-as-infrastructure thread.