More Volume = More Detail
August 5, 2015 11:21 AM   Subscribe

Is there a term (scientific or musical) for that thing where you turn up the volume on your headphones (or whatever) and suddenly you can hear something that you couldn't hear at all at the lower volume? Like, "Oh, there's bells in there. I had no idea."
posted by Etrigan to Media & Arts (8 answers total)
 
Finding the signal in the noise?
posted by un petit cadeau at 11:23 AM on August 5, 2015


Maybe just-noticeable difference?
posted by StickyCarpet at 11:24 AM on August 5, 2015


I have had exactly one audiology class, is my level of non-expertise. But one thing that might be happening is that at lower volumes, near the threshold of audibility for you (the point at which you can hear something), you hear the lower frequencies less well. At higher volumes, the difference in your perception of various frequencies flattens out. So one thing that might be happening is that, as the volume goes up, the suppressed frequencies rise up relative to the ones you've been hearing and you are able to perceive them.

I know nothing about sound mixing but it also strikes me that certain elements may just be mixed at a lower volume for some reason. I know when I watch TV with captions on, the captions often refer to backgrounds sounds or music that I can't hear at all.
posted by not that girl at 11:29 AM on August 5, 2015 [1 favorite]


i think it's mainly a threshold effect. things become loud enough to hear (at whatever frequency, which adds extra complications, as not that girl says).

however, there is also a known effect where adding noise to a system helps detect weak signals. this is known as stochastic resonance. i don't know if it's important when listening to music.

edit: also, it's well known that people enjoy loud music more than quiet music. hence the battle with audio dealers demoing systems who keep edging the volume higher.
posted by andrewcooke at 11:33 AM on August 5, 2015 [2 favorites]


No help with the terminology. I just wanted to confirm that this is a thing. I still remember, nearly 40 years later, the first time I heard Dark Side of the Moon on a really good sound system at elevated volume. It was the soundtrack for a solo dance performance. I was astonished. The heartbeat, through all the songs.
posted by Bruce H. at 12:33 PM on August 5, 2015


Hearing is really complicated. As the volume increases, every part of your ears is changing a little bit. You get (essentially) dynamic EQ and compression based on the incoming signal. So, not necessarily an answer, I guess, but an explanation.
posted by uncleozzy at 12:35 PM on August 5, 2015


Dynamic range.
posted by rhizome at 1:36 PM on August 5, 2015


Maybe not 110% what you're looking for, but the Fletcher Munson curve is a graphical representation of how our ears' perception of the "loudness" of frequencies (tones/pitches) can alter depending on the actual volume of the sound. Later testing and experimentation have fine-tuned Fletcher and Munson's work, and a variety of "equal loudness curves" (or contours) have been produced. Explanation of equal loudness curves from the "Hyper-Physics" pages of Georgia State.

But, yeah, our ears actually hear different things at different volumes.

(Real World example of these curves at work - if you've ever had a home stereo with a "loudness" button, basically the button will boost the lows and the highs, which fools your ears into thinking the music is "louder" (because of how our perception of high and low frequencies is different than our perception of mid frequencies at low volume) without actually turning up the volume of the stereo.)
posted by soundguy99 at 10:06 PM on August 5, 2015


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