From: utzoo!watmath!watarts!bernie Newsgroups: net.misc Title: Re: Loud Music: Why? Article-I.D.: watarts.1719 Posted: Thu Mar 3 22:47:32 1983 Received: Sat Mar 5 02:23:32 1983 Reply-To: bernie@watarts (Bernie Roehl) References: cwruecmp.526 Best theory I've heard as to why some people like their music LOUD is that their frequency response curve drops off really quickly. In other words, their ability to hear a given sound drops rapidly as the frequency of the sound increases; they don't hear high frequencies as well as they do low frequencies. They therefore crank up the volume overall, so as to have enough volume in the frequencies where their hearing is weak; their brains compensate for the increase in the lower frequency sounds, and smooth things out for them. The music sounds "richer" at a higher volume, since they are able to discern sounds in a range that was invisible to them at a lower volume. Here's a nice touch of irony : their inability to hear high-frequency sounds well is probably due to long-term exposure to loud music; the cause and the consequence are one. --Bernie Roehl