The loudness war is fought with (and over)

compression

Susan E. Rogers, PhD

Berklee College of Music
Dept. of Music Production & Engineering

131st AES Convention

New York, 2011
 A summary of the loudness war and its challenges

Vickers, E. (Nov. 2010). Journal of the Audio Engineering Society - E-Library.

Paper 8175.

Hypercompression is used to make a signal perceptually louder by concentrating

all of the acoustical power in the amplitude range where work is being done.

Loudness perception is a summation of acoustical energy over time.

Rapidly changing peak energy contributes very little to the overall perceived
loudness.

Stone, et al. (2009)

 What is excessive gets excised

Listeners frequently judge the louder of two sounds to be better.

Music engineers, broadcasters and film sound mixers use compression in part to
give the psychological impression that the sound source is powerful and/or
nearby.

A kind of arms race has ensued among record makers and radio broadcasters to
deliver a product that is as loud as the competitors.

Vickers, E. (2010)
 Distortion is friend and foe

Peak clipping causes harmonic distortion.

Harmonic distortion can be desired (guitar amps), fondly tolerated (vacuum tube
amps), or necessary (timbre perception) but it is implicated in causing listening
fatigue.

Hypercompressed audio signals are proposed to lead to listening conditions (e.g.,

longer durations, greater intensity, increased distortion) that risk exposing the listener
to damaging effects.

Are these assumptions supported?

Auditory threshold in 4,400 males,

aged 18-70 years
Fleischer, G. (2008)
 Can hypercompression cause listening fatigue?

yes

Temporary Level Shift (TLS)

Cognitive drain

Diminished emotional engagement, lack of interest

Hyperactivity of central nervous system

 Temporary Level Shift (TLS)
Epstein, M.J. (2011). Correlates of loudness. In Loudness, Florentine, M., Popper, A.N., and Fay, R.R. (Eds.). Springer:N.Y.

Exposure to high-level sounds,

particularly for extended periods, causes
a reduction in the loudness of sounds
(frequency band ~ 4 kHz most
vulnerable).

May result from:

reduced neural activity
temporary hair cell incapacitation

Reduction in the range of 20-40 dB.

Asymptotes after 8 hours of exposure.

Melnick, W. (1991). Jour Ac Soc Am

Recovery by 24 hours.
 Cognitive drain
Stone, M.A. et al (2009). JAES, 57(7/8).

Compression can impair sound source

perception by linking acoustical energy
from separate sources

Loss of both temporal and spectral

contrasts reduces info available to
auditory system

Will hypercompression of two

simultaneous voice streams increase
mental effort?

Is co-modulating worse than individually

compressed?

Greater compression slowed reaction

times, esp. for co-modulated signal.
 Hyperactivity of central nervous system
Vickers, 2010

Much anecdotal evidence linking distorted and/or hypercompressed audio to overstimulation

of the central nervous system.

you end up feeling battered, fatigued by, and disgusted with the music you love...

I never heard the word fatigue once when I was cutting vinyl...

highly compressed or limited music with no dynamic range is physically difficult to listen to
for any period of time....

you just stop listening because they fatigue your ear...

Increased signal complexity is represented by a corresponding increase in neural activity.

But..... I am unaware of any studies on this phenomenon ... It may be an urban myth.
 Does hypercompression cause listening fatigue?

no

Confounded variables and correlations

Attention spans and competition for mental resources

The auditory system and survival mode

 The sound source changes,
and so does the receivers behavior,
and vice versa

Live music Recorded music Recorded music

unreinforced stationary portable

at home multiple
one room
in car environments

background noise background noise background noise

minimal fairly constant changing

attention attention attention

maximal may be fixed minimal
or divided
 Contrary evidence for widespread hearing loss in noisy
environments
Fleischer, G. (2008). In Reflections on Sound, Svensson, P. (Ed.).

The auditory system can gradually improve

in a sonically rich environment where noise
is either continual or predictable.

17% of the musicians show auditory

damage.

54% of the construction workers show

damage.
The auditory system and survival mode
Fleischer, G. (2008). In Reflections on Sound, Svensson, P. (Ed.).

Persons of normal hearing

would experience pain at the
SPL of the organ tuner.

Yet organ tuners have better

hearing than other age-matched
groups.

There is no clear relation

between hearing acuity and
exposure to long-term
continuous noise.
 The art and skill of compression

There remain aesthetic and practical uses for compression.

Compression is difficult to reverse engineer.

Educating audio engineers to meet this need while preserving fidelity.

Educating manufacturers and broadcasters to prevent or reduce

distortion by-products.

Thank you for listening!