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  1. Minecraft: Java Edition
  2. MC-141201

Sound intensity seems to have linear scale rather than logarithmic

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    • Icon: Bug Bug
    • Resolution: Unresolved
    • None
    • Minecraft 1.13.2
    • None
    • My testing setup was Win10 with 100% volume, HyperX Cloud headphones with 100% volume and built-in audio card on Fatal1ty z97 Killer Mobo.

       
    • Community Consensus
    • Sound

      The following problem might be subjective and depend on other software and hardware (but shouldn't). 

      So to the problem: Minecraft seems to have a linear model of sound intensity. And I'm not talking about directional/distant sounds. In the real world, the perception of sound(sones) is logarithmically proportional to the intensity of sound(dB)(attached plot). A general rule of thumb would be: to make something sound 2x louder, we must increase the power by about a factor of 10. After some testing it occured to me, that the sound volume sliders don't really seem to change the perceived sound by their value. To illustrate: place a jukebox, stand next to it and play a music disc, then change the setting for jukebox/noteblock volume from 100% to 50%. It doesn't really sound like "2x quieter", does it? Maybe like ~80% the starting volume. What seems to be actually "2x quiter" is value ~7%. Not something I would expect. Why is it annoying? First of all: try setting the volume to 1% - still pretty easy to hear. Second: I don't want to meddle in windows sound mixer each time I want to change the volume in game.

      In conclusion: test it (and maybe other aspects of sound in game like MC-71552), check if it occurs to you as it occurs to me (and by check I mean ask others about their opinion and collect the data from many people) and give feedback.

      And in attachments the dB to sones(perceived loudness) graph:

       

        1. test_breaking_100_50.ogg
          450 kB
          [Mod] ampolive
        2. Slide1.jpg
          30 kB
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            T3sT3ro Tooster
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