Loud vs. Clear: Why Volume Isn't the Same as Intelligibility

One of the most common phrases I hear when walking into a space is some version of:

"It's loud enough. I just can't understand anything."

Honestly, this phrase alone describes most audio related problems in venues.

One of the most common issues I see in live sound is the assumption that louder means clearer. In practice, the two are often unrelated. I can have a system that is quiet but clear and I can have a system that is loud but muddy.

One of the easiest things for an engineer to do is to make their system loud. You simply increase your channel gain, push your fader up, and maybe even increase the output of your power amps. Problem solved! The reality is that nearly any system can become "loud" with very little effort.

But what is clarity?

Clarity comes from specific, controlled changes.

A few examples that can affect clarity are:

• Speaker placement and coverage

• Room size, acoustics, and reflections

• Frequency balance

• Signal flow and gain structures

Even if just a few of these things are not quite right, the system may still sound powerful, yet you still can't hear what the speaker is actually saying. Increasing the overall volume can make clarity even worse. Why is this? The sound waves that are reflecting around the room become stronger. Any harsh sounding frequencies become amplified and are now fatiguing.

One interesting thing about a properly tuned system is that it can actually feel quiter, even when pushing the same or higher SPL. Your brain isn't having to work as hard to decode what is being said. Everything sounds natural. A system that gets out of the way is doing its job correctly. A system shouldn't draw attention to itself. It should simply exist.