"Fred Marshall" <fmarshallx@remove_the_x.acm.org> wrote in message
news:[email protected]..
>
> > Yes, someone elses approach was similar to this (they didn't use RMS,
but
> > rather just rather just peaks to determine if the volume was too loud).
> > They started out at 10 times normal volume and reduced the volume if
> > necessary to make it fit within the 16 bit integer. Then they stored
the
> > multiplication factor so the game would start out next at the already
> > reduced factor. So, one time the game was run, sounds at first might be
> > louder than they should be until the loudest sounds of the game were
> > encountered, but then they would be leveled out. The problem is that
> their
> > idea of looking at the peaks only resulted in wide variations between
> games.
> > I think that is the part of their logic that is flawed.
> >
> > I agree with the store multiplication factor, but the technique for
using
> > the peaks to determine volume doesn't work well. That is what I'm
trying
> to
> > improve.
>
> "using the peaks doesn't work well" in what way?

Perception of loudness is more based on average (or RMS) signal power than
on maximum peak level. A few large short peaks can dramatically alter the
peak level but may not affect the RMS level much at all.