Operators lowering volume to fix loudness harms speech intelligibility

Evidence

Customers walking out of movies have brought another matter to the fore: excessive loudness and/or distortion. In response, cinema operators are turning down the volume, and the cinematic art and speech intelligibility both suffer. — , Toole, Floyd E - Sound reproduction-…, 1359

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Vowels dominate perceived loudness while consonants carry intelligibility — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 1307; Noise reduction claims should use loudness ratios to stay credible — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 1782; High-pitched soprano singing sacrifices intelligibility for audibility (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Volume compression worsens speech intelligibility by flattening syllabic amplitude cues #corroborates (0.85) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 2492