If our ears work by their ability to receive detect and interpret vibrations, why does my music sound louder in the morning or before I go out and do something but later, at the same volume levels, it sounds much quieter?
And if this is a bodily response to adapting to loud sounds we encounter, why can’t we “adjust” volume manually ourselves?
In: Biology
It is likely to be a brain and instinctual mechanism from our evolutionary past. In the wild, it is UNUSUAL noises that alert an animal to danger. The brain can only focus on a few things. If it tried to process every sound at “equal” priority, it would risk missing out on the important ones.
In a super low background noise environment (google anechoic chamber) a person can even start hearing their heartbeat and blood flowing in their ears. This is your brain adapting its perceptive resources on the critical stuff. You don’t want to hear the wind blowing on leaves if it means not hearing a predator coming to get you, basically.
Even sight works in a similar way. Many animals detect motion much better than they can perceive still objects. Again, this is the way brains work to improve survival.
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