Why do you only hear the lower frequencies when standing outside a club/party that’s playing music?

Question

Why do you only hear the lower frequencies when standing outside a club/party that’s playing music?

In: Physics

Answer 1

Lower frequency sound is not attenuated (reduced in volume) by typical construction materials as much as higher frequency sound. A reasonable way for you to understand this is that when the atoms that make up the material move in response to the sound, there is some amount of internal friction that reduces the strength of those vibrations. And of course the more frequently those atoms rub up against each other, because of higher frequency sound, the more effect that friction has.