Sound perception

You do not hear sound as a flat line.

The original OIKLA explainer made one point very clearly: sound perception is curved. Equal-loudness contours are why a mix can feel balanced at one level and thin at another.

Equal-loudness contour chart

The ear changes with level

Human hearing is most sensitive through the midrange. As playback gets quieter, lows and highs fall away faster than speech-range information. This is why quiet listening often feels smaller, even when the recording itself has not changed.

Static EQ is not enough

A fixed boost can help one listening level and overcorrect another. OIKLA's approach is to calculate correction from the current level, so the tonal balance follows perception instead of fighting it.

Why this matters

Producers can make better level decisions, listeners can keep volume lower without losing excitement, and devices can adapt to the real listening context rather than assuming every room and headphone behaves the same.