Voice-raising to overcome hearing loss makes speech seem too loud
Evidence
Compared to NH04, listener NH01 has a wider range of levels that correspond to 5 CU (“Very Soft”) and a lower LDL, leaving a smaller dynamic range for the remaining categories. This results in a horizontally-compressed MCPF, mirroring the listener’s sharper growth of loudness in the CLS function. … Listener HL11 (4th row) has LDL that is within the ranges of a NH listener; the higher threshold level causes the spacing between category boundary curves to be compressed horizontally. Despite this compression, this listener with HL has well-defined perceptual boundaries between categories (i.e., sharply-sloped boundary curves). — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 2556 (
#complicates, via linked claim)
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 (
#exemplifies, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: High ambient noise forces listeners to raise volume toward hearing-loss levels — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 2562; Elevated hearing thresholds and lower LDLs compress loudness category spacing horizontally. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 2556
Broader Connections
- High ambient noise forces listeners to raise volume toward hearing-loss levels
#exemplifies(0.75) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 2562 - Elevated hearing thresholds and lower LDLs compress loudness category spacing horizontally.
#complicates(0.75) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 2556