Ask HN: Why isn't sound volume specified via two parameters: target and range?

3 points by amichail ↗ HN
In this way, when watching a movie or listening to a song, you can avoid uncomfortably loud sounds while still being able to hear soft sounds.

4 comments

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war

Some movies have been playing with having a wider dynamic audio range, and some are just mumbling. I don't think many listeners care for more than an audio compressor can give them and the "advertising industry" doesn't like that so it tends to not show up as a mass market thing.

Hope this is a problem ML might solve some day with audio quality feedback. I place a little device with microphone next to me and it tells my player/speakers whether the music/sfx are too loud and the voices can't be heard, or a song in a playlist requires a different equalization/volume to sound right, or I just moved away and need the sound louder, then moved near and corrects it so I don't get deaf.
umm just provide a loudness level that you are ok with as a reference, and by monitoring the loudness level if sound goes above it, just lower it. this is possible to program in linux and straightforward also. no need for machine learning. but yes machine learning would be awesome.

ontopic this idea is great. you can implement it via formula for loudness that takes distance and decibels as variables.

If I understand you correctly this is called "Night Mode" or something similar on many TVs, phones and other audio devices