Reducing background noise improves both safety and perceived sound quality

Evidence

One important feature relevant to obtaining good-quality audio listening is the relative levels of the wanted sound and unwanted sound such as local background acoustic noise. In environments such as aircraft cabins where the ambient acoustic noise level is high, it is not easy to obtain good-quality audio. This is particularly the case with the headphones provided to economy-class travelers, which are generally of a low quality that distorts the sound when the volume is turned up sufficiently high to hear the music or film soundtrack. There is also the danger that the overall sound level being presented (wanted signal plus the unwanted background noise) could even cause noise-induced hearing loss (see Section 2.5) depending on the volume of the wanted signal that is set. — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 2562 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Recording studio background noise should approach the hearing threshold — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 942; Good noise isolation reduces preferred playback levels and hearing damage; Noise research shifted from hearing-loss risk to subjective annoyance (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• High ambient noise forces listeners to raise volume toward hearing-loss levels #corroborates (0.85) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 2562
• Non-environment rooms suppress all but direct sound for clearer audio detail and imaging #exemplifies (0.82)
• Active noise cancellation works by adding phase-reversed copies of background noise #expands (0.75)