When out and about in public, how do sounds not cancel each other out?

Question

I get constructive and deconstructive, but those are usually in the context of being the same frequency and just being out of phase. I’m talking like…you and your bud having a conversation in a restaurant, with music playing, convos around you, sound of wait staff, etc. If a waiter drops a plate, how does that sound transit through at that higher, unique frequency through all the other noise so that all can hear it?

Thank you for your time!

In: Physics

Answer 1

Your brain does a pretty remarkable job at filling in the gaps. There’s a look at a phenomenon called “masking” in the (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BYTlN6wjcvQ&pp=ygUUQXVkaW8gbXl0aHMgd29ya3Nob3A%3D) what you hear and what was actually audible aren’t always 1:1.