Volume compression worsens speech intelligibility by flattening syllabic amplitude cues

Evidence

Paradoxically, electronic volume compression does not improve intelligibility; in many cases it makes it worse, because it can distort the syllabic amplitude variations that help us understand words. — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 2492

Paradoxically electronic volume compression does not improve intelligibility; in many cases it makes it worse, because it can distort the syllabic amplitude variations that help us understand words. — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 2481

Categorization

• QUESTION: What is the precise mechanism by which compression distorts syllabic amplitude variations, and at what compressor settings does this kick in?
• SEED: Angle: why loudness-wars-style compression in broadcast could be actively harming comprehension, not just fatiguing listeners.
• XREF: Resonates with the book’s earlier treatment of loudness and dynamic range — perceived loudness and physical intensity diverge. — connects to: Turning down cinema volume to reduce loudness harms dialog intelligibility.; Faster-fluctuating sounds trigger less cochlear compression, trading sensitivity for better dynamic encoding — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3637; Compression loss most impairs recognition when a syllable is relatively quieter than its neighbors. (+12 more)
• corroborated: 4 independent passages support this claim — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 2492; David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 2481