Listener fatigue

Listener fatigue occurs when the ear tunes out unwanted noises and focuses on the wanted ones. When listening to music for example, the speakers may give off an unwanted hissing noise that the person has to focus out, causing "Listener Fatigue".

This is an extension of the quantifiable psychological perception of sound, adding time-variance effects.

If listeners get fatigued when listening to a radio station they may tune out, and either consciously or unconsciously they may come to avoid listening to that station. Digital audio may cause greater fatigue for the listener than analog audio because hidden and unexpected distortion is sometimes created, particularly in sample rate converters and D/A converters.

Data-reduction systems are another possible reason why listeners fatigue can creep in. The constant quest for greater loudness, an obsession with pushing levels to the maximum, and a lack of understanding of the ways in which digital equipment can generate distortion all seem to lead to an increase in listener fatigue. However, the understanding of what causes fatigue is still relatively limited.

See also

*Ear fatigue
*Dynamic range compression

External links

* [http://ccrma.stanford.edu/~jos/TimeFreqDisplay/Loudness_Spectrogram.html Explanation] of time and frequency variation of loudness, with [http://ccrma.stanford.edu/~jos/TimeFreqDisplay/Instantaneous_Short_Term_Long_Term_Loudness.html graphs] and [http://ccrma.stanford.edu/~jos/TimeFreqDisplay/Specific_Loudness.html loudness spectrograms]
* [http://www.rwonline.com/reference-room/special-report/02_rwf_t4m_dayparting.shtml Discussion] of noise fatigue, relevant to commercial radio