PulseAudio needs a way for the user to set inviolable maximum volume
Submitted by Andrew Eikum
Assigned to pul..@..op.org
Description
Without flat volumes, this is trivial. It's called the device volume. Play a very loud stream with stream volume at 100% and set your device volume down until it's reasonable. It is now impossible for any stream to deafen the user, no matter its volume.
With flat volumes enabled, as is the default for PulseAudio, this is currently impossible to achieve.
The following sequence will deafen users, in my opinion unexpectedly:
- Open a very loud stream
- Drag the device volume down to 20% or something reasonable. This will also set your stream volume to 20%.
- Close stream 1
- Open a quiet stream
- In pavucontrol, notice that the quiet stream is at 20%. Drag it up to 50% or something, where you can hear it
- Close stream 2
- Re-open the very loud stream
- Visit your doctor to get hearing aids
Disabling flat volumes by default would solve this problem. This is what I've done on my machine.
See also: https://features.opensuse.org/310668 http://pulseaudio.org/ticket/949