This is really interesting to me. I work in a retail store and have noticed over the years that I get more and more irritated by regular people being "loud" even though it doesn't seem to bother anyone else. I use noise cancelling whenever I'm out in NYC and it makes a lot of sense to me that maybe my internal gain has been turned up and that's why normal volumes seem so loud all the time. When I really need to focus and don't need to be perceptive to the world around me I like to listen to white noise. Maybe that's a better alternative.
I've experienced this issue too, worsened noise tolerance, and had been leaning very heavily on noise-canceling technology to cope with (ironically) a chronic noise situation in my apartment.
Next thought: does spatial audio also turn up the internal gain? Since its manipulations must be internal...
Hmmm, this is news to me. The disorientation experienced by people moving in completely silenced spaces makes sense. I use ANC all the time, but will experiment with turning it off while walking on the street.
This is really interesting to me. I work in a retail store and have noticed over the years that I get more and more irritated by regular people being "loud" even though it doesn't seem to bother anyone else. I use noise cancelling whenever I'm out in NYC and it makes a lot of sense to me that maybe my internal gain has been turned up and that's why normal volumes seem so loud all the time. When I really need to focus and don't need to be perceptive to the world around me I like to listen to white noise. Maybe that's a better alternative.
I've experienced this issue too, worsened noise tolerance, and had been leaning very heavily on noise-canceling technology to cope with (ironically) a chronic noise situation in my apartment.
Next thought: does spatial audio also turn up the internal gain? Since its manipulations must be internal...
Now I’m glad I lost my airpod pros 😎
😂
Hmmm, this is news to me. The disorientation experienced by people moving in completely silenced spaces makes sense. I use ANC all the time, but will experiment with turning it off while walking on the street.
In your follow-up, would be great if you could consider Autistic folks and others with auditory processing sensitivities.