i bet the majority of y'all have perfect hearing and not a trace of tinnitus. not me. that said, i am a big believer in living out in the woods to get away from city/suburban noise. those are the big noisy dogs that, once those are out of the way, then the domestic sounds [HVAC, refrigerator, line hum] take on a much bigger presence. i have found that the best and most practical way to deal with those, is to use an audio [dynamic range] compressor on the audio, to bring up the music buried under the ambient murk. otherwise, one has no other choice but to turn up the volume and possibly [further] damage one's hearing as well as disturb the neighbors. a 90+db dynamic range is totally impractical for anybody living in any real place where the 90% can afford to live. a modest amount of dynamic range compression is useful in majority of listening environments.
Background noise.
I was just reminded of how critical the ambient noise level is to appreciating a good system.
Because the air quality has not been that good over the last week. I had turned on my air cleaner in the next room, on low, about 25 feet away from my audio seat… and 33’ from my speakers. The air filter is not noisy and set on low. I do not notice it when not listening to music while sitting in my audio chair.
I was listening to a vinyl album I know well. I appreciated that I could not hear a bit of surface noise, not even a little. But it seemed like something was missing… the full dynamics of the album.
Finally I remembered the air filter was on. I turned it off. Wow. What a difference. My system’s noise floor is way below my room’s with the air filter on… even though it is really difficult to hear the air filter without the system on.
Ambient noise is really important… even when at the threshold of perception. Distant refrigerators, laundry… or air conditioners.