Wide dynamic range compression degrades perception of speech temporal cues like stop consonants

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 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Dynamic range compression trades vitality for noisy-environment audibility; Compression loss most impairs recognition when a syllable is relatively quieter than its neighbors.; Loss of cochlear compression alone impairs hearing soft syllables amid louder ones — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 4046 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Volume compression worsens speech intelligibility by flattening syllabic amplitude cues #expands (0.92) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 2492