“noise floor” — the volume or, more technically, the amplitude of “the sum of all noise sources and other unwanted signals within a system. This could be the ambient acoustic noise in a room, or the electrical noise in a recording system or other audio equipment.”
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Citation: [soundonsound.com](https://www.soundonsound.com/glossary/noise-floor)
*Originally published in the June 13, 2022, edition of the This Week in Sound email newsletter. Get it in your inbox via [tinyletter.com/disquiet](https://tinyletter.com/disquiet).*
Although not official, you could say tinnitus adds to this as well. As if the human body is like an old amplifier.