Interested to get some thoughts on this. It seems to always get quieter as I go outdoors for me
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It’s just perceived loudness. More space means more room to travel and waves become weaker. Music isn’t actually quieter, just Doppler effect-ing mixed with sound dispersion.
In an AV setting, low frequencies are much less directional than high frequencies (at least in how we perceive them). When you place speakers, you want them pointed towards the listener. But a subwoofer can be anywhere in the room and it “sounds” pretty much the same. The sound will bounce off the walls and you can’t really tell where it’s coming from. In fact it will sound lounger if the subwoofer is near a wall, or better yet a corner. High frequencies will reflect also, but not as much as the lows.
Outdoors there are no walls for low frequencies to reflect off of, so they don’t sound as loud as inside. Since we hear high frequencies mostly directly instead of reflected, they don’t change as much
it doesn’t get softer. your sensitivity to hearing it and your ability to discern it from other sounds goes down. Then your brain protects itself by prioritizing what you’re processing, so as to not overwhelm your senses and cause epileptic episodes.
Are you talking about bass on headphones or earbuds? The human-perceived bass levels (relative to real levels) on those tend to decrease as the surrounding noise level increases, which is partially why you may find yourself cranking the volume up in noisy places, and outdoor settings tend to have more ambient noise than indoor ones.
If you’re talking about loudspeakers or live instruments, closed rooms have resonances, known as room modes, at certain frequencies, which tend to boost overall bass levels. Basically, the room itself wants to vibrate kind of like a giant wind instrument, and at which frequencies will depend on its length, width, and height. Especially in smaller rooms, this can provide a considerable low-end boost that makes bass sound deeper and rumblier.
e: Audio engineers will use fiberglass or foam panelling to absorb those indoor bass waves instead of letting them bounce off and mess with the sound of the mix.
Bass frequencies (low frequencies) have longer wavelengths than higher frequencies. This means that they can pass through small openings or around objects more easily than higher frequencies. When you are inside a room, the walls and other objects inside the room can reflect the bass frequencies and cause them to bounce around, which makes the bass sound louder. However, when you go outside, there are fewer objects for the bass frequencies to bounce off of, so they don’t get reflected as much and the bass sounds quieter.
Additionally, the air outside is less dense than the air inside a room, which can also cause the bass frequencies to become quieter as they travel through the air.
Overall, the combination of the lack of reflecting surfaces and the difference in air density outside can cause bass frequencies to become quieter when you are outside.
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