3 ms·

I think it's not just different standards (quiet = "I can't hear it when blasting Call of Duty at an unhealthy volume") but likely the prevalence of hearing dam

I think it's not just different standards (quiet = "I can't hear it when blasting Call of Duty at an unhealthy volume") but likely the prevalence of hearing damage. A 30 dB noise is way less noticeable if your threshold of hearing is in the 10-30 dB range instead of the -10 to 10 dB range. Likewise the ability of people to perceive separate noises simultaneously differs. (Likewise many people say they can't hear the noise ANC headphones produce - it seems likely to me that they're either in a too loud environment so it's masked at all times, have hearing damage or both. It'd be interesting to see the Venn diagram with people who complain you can't turn up phone headphones to be loud enough any more - mumble mumble the EU took it from us! Meanwhile the volume step size of AirPods is too coarse for me because I'm only ever using the lowest four or so "clicks", rarely exceeding 50 dB per HealthKit).

psychphysic 4y ago
We definitely have different physiological sensitivity to stimuli, and sensitivity can be unintuitive (sounds we can be either made more or less noticeable depending on noise), we also differ in our processing ability and finally our conscious and unconscious ability to direct attention. This leads to interesting things like for many a white noise source (actually pink noise) nicely blots out most other auditory stimuli by helping direct attention away. Yet the noise source itself heightens sensitivity (why some people find ANC annoying). Finally some people simply can not direct their attention strongly and it's worsening. Hypersensitivity it's being swallowed up as an autism trait but many people simply aren't as trained at directing attention than we were in the past since we have such loud hobbies. Mindfulness does wonders here.
AshamedCaptain 4y ago
I have terrible hearing (plus age) and I still find most devices have uselessly coarse AND loud volume levels. I almost never exceed the first 2-3 'clicks' unless I want to wake my neighbors. Worst offenders are cheap monitor and/or laptop builtin speakers. I remember one where out of 15 avalable clicks, level 2 was already unbearably loud. When PulseAudio added "absolute volume control" support, I found out it would sometimes fake in extra clicks in which the actual volume would NOT change, but gave the impression of granularity. Wonders of HDA & usb audio...
Gigachad 4y ago
Half the time it’s because their AirPods are gummed up with earwax and it actually is too quiet.
Beltalowda 4y ago
> Likewise many people say they can't hear the noise ANC headphones produce - it seems likely to me that they're either in a too loud environment so it's masked at all times, have hearing damage or both. On my old QC-35 I couldn't hear it, but it's pretty noticeable on the QC-45 I got after those broke.

psychphysic 4y ago

We definitely have different physiological sensitivity to stimuli, and sensitivity can be unintuitive (sounds we can be either made more or less noticeable depending on noise), we also differ in our processing ability and finally our conscious and unconscious ability to direct attention. This leads to interesting things like for many a white noise source (actually pink noise) nicely blots out most other auditory stimuli by helping direct attention away. Yet the noise source itself heightens sensitivity (why some people find ANC annoying). Finally some people simply can not direct their attention strongly and it's worsening. Hypersensitivity it's being swallowed up as an autism trait but many people simply aren't as trained at directing attention than we were in the past since we have such loud hobbies. Mindfulness does wonders here.

AshamedCaptain 4y ago

I have terrible hearing (plus age) and I still find most devices have uselessly coarse AND loud volume levels. I almost never exceed the first 2-3 'clicks' unless I want to wake my neighbors. Worst offenders are cheap monitor and/or laptop builtin speakers. I remember one where out of 15 avalable clicks, level 2 was already unbearably loud. When PulseAudio added "absolute volume control" support, I found out it would sometimes fake in extra clicks in which the actual volume would NOT change, but gave the impression of granularity. Wonders of HDA & usb audio...

Gigachad 4y ago

Half the time it’s because their AirPods are gummed up with earwax and it actually is too quiet.

Beltalowda 4y ago

> Likewise many people say they can't hear the noise ANC headphones produce - it seems likely to me that they're either in a too loud environment so it's masked at all times, have hearing damage or both. On my old QC-35 I couldn't hear it, but it's pretty noticeable on the QC-45 I got after those broke.