ABSTRACT
These new audio capabilities have been added to the PC environment in an ad-hoc manner resulting in an awkward situation where audio applications do not interact well with each other or with the informational sounds produced by the desktop environment. System sounds, such as the bell that rings to announce the arrival of new mail or an instant message, will blare if the user has turned up the volume to listen to the latest MP3 music file (legally) downloaded off the Internet. Or, the informational system tone may not be heard at all if the user has turned down the master volume level while playing background music. The volume has to be adjusted again to make a game’s explosions sound impressive because the system gain was last set to make the system bell a reasonable level. This article explores the history leading to the present situation where
applications don’t moderate their volume always outputting the maximum audio level; effectively they shout. This situation forces the end-user to make the only intervention possible, changing the master volume level. Continuing, this article suggests some ways application developers and system designers can use straightforward, but not often used, techniques to improve the shouting situation for their users. In particular, I explore how to control sound levels on a per application basis in software, an approach similar to how a PC soundcard’s analog mixer hardware provides independent audio levels for each hardware audio source.
