Why is someone on speakerphone on public transport more annoying then 2 people having an in person conversation?

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ChrisRR@reddit

I've never personally understood this

2 people sat next to each other talking? Not annoying

1 person talking on their phone at the same volume? People lose their shit

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F1ngerB4ngMyP155H0le@reddit

The lower the IQ, the louder the person. You’re generally listening to the loudest, stupidest conversation which is why it is so fucking tedious.

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Floyd_Pink@reddit

Stand next to them with a Slipknot playlist booming at full volume then ask them this question.

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phatboi23@reddit

treble...

average phones doing voice fuckin' suck for full range of audio.

old telephones and even modern wifi calling cuts the bottom end and top end off.

then small speakers.

welcome to treble.

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dglcomputers@reddit

Because there is no need for it, when talking in person you have to talk out loud, a phone doesn't need the same level of volume and you only have to hear one part of the party.

Also you don't need to always take a call as a video call, they don't need to see you if all your having is a quick chit chat or asking what they want from the supermarket or takeaway.

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Maximum-Day-8121@reddit

Because its an arsehle doing the talking.

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MidnightRambler87@reddit

Both arseholes because both are taking part.

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I've had calls where it's taken several comments about how shitty the call quality is before getting an admission that I'm on speaker, maybe don't assume they are arseholes just because they know one.

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IllustriousWedding94@reddit

This.

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NoAimElaine@reddit

The sound of the speakerphone is grating. At least two people talking in person tend to keep a softer tone.

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YchYFi@reddit

It's so tinny and one sided.

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skibidi-bibidi@reddit

The high pitched tinnyness of the speaker, and the fact that the person with the phone is usually shouting.

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ctrl-shift-rewire@reddit

And the conversation is always inane and nothing that couldn’t have waited.

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quaranteenagedirtbag@reddit

This is the right answer. Because of the background noise of the train, people usually can't hear the person on the other end of the phone very well, so they turn it way up and then they shout back at them. People sitting next to each other tend to lean in a bit closer, and also I think some degree of lip-reading makes it easier to guess at what the other person is saying even if you didn't 100% hear.

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Inevitable_Bid8719@reddit

This \^ I think phone voices are really bad at the best of times, Ive always gotten more wound up in a phone call than I would in the same conversation irl

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Fatal-Eggs2024@reddit

It’s usually louder. And two people chatting are more aware of their surroundings and modulate, as compared to one person on the phone who is usually unaware of surroundings.

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superjambi@reddit

Me and my screeching pals have entered the chat. I have been asked to be quiet so many times. I'm just excited ☹️

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ExpensiveNut@reddit

You should definitely try to avoid screeching, but I wouldn't want you to curb your excitement entirely cause that would be sad too.

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ExpensiveNut@reddit

The phone speaker sounds obnoxious and the person raising their voice into the microphone is always going to be worse.

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Qyro@reddit

It's all volume and tonality. Two people talking in person can and will adjust their volume to their surroundings and have a warmer, natural tone to their voices. Someone chatting on speakerphone will have their volume up loud, be shouting at their phone, and the sound of the other persons voice is tinny and grating on the ears.

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glasgowgeg@reddit

Someone on speakerphone is unnecessarily subjecting you to both halves of the conversation, they have the default option of not doing this, but they're choosing not to.

They're intentionally adding more noise than needs to be there.

Two people in person cannot change this, they're in person.

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BillyJoeDubuluw@reddit

Truthfully, they’re technically similar, but there’s often something about people who have loudspeaker phone calls when they could just as easily take the call without telling the world about it.

They frequently give off a very self-entitled and small dick energy.

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Sad-Performer-4833@reddit

I think it increased when they removed jack plug sockets from phones, and it all became bluetooth. Folk skipped the pairing and just broadcast their music/life

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justeUnMec@reddit

It's the tinny quality of the speaker that is really annoying, and the fact the person on the phone generally has to turn it up to hear it and also shouts to be heard. Natural speech is sort of more discrete and generally lacks that sharpened tone you get with compressed 8khz audio through a tiny metal speaker.

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anavgredditnerd@reddit

I feel like someone should make an EQ to stop speakers sounding like that

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justeUnMec@reddit

Not really a solution as it would just empower the muppets. The issue is not just the speaker but the narrow 8khz band used by telephone networks. However, a tiny speaker in a thin metal box is by its nature going to sound crap at the volumes necessary to make speech audible on a noisy vehicle

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anavgredditnerd@reddit

not a solution, but would help

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justeUnMec@reddit

What would help would be spread spectrum signal jammers on public transport, and putting AI object recognition to good use with ceiling mounted cameras armed with water pistols to squirt the speaker using offenders. Anything else is pointless overengineering to solve a problem that shouldn't exist:)

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Critterfritter1@reddit

If everyone did everything they wanted to do without considering the comfort of other passengers, using public transport would be horrendous. It’s basic courtesy. Maybe we all want to play our music out loud and put our feet on the chairs.

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A_Roll_of_the_Dice@reddit

Firstly, volume.

It's often louder than an in-person conversation because the speaker alters the sound in a way that means it needs to be louder to hear it clearly over other ambient noises.

Secondly, necessity.

Two people talking in person can't really vocally communicate without speaking to each other. This makes it a necessity. It's not ignorance, it's not selfish, and it's not a choice (per se). A loudspeaker conversation, on the other hand, is all three of those things, which makes it infinitely more annoying.

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MahatmaAndhi@reddit

Because it's avoidable if you use the phone the way the good lord intended.

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PsychologicalDish430@reddit

The narrow bandwidth of the speaker.

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Deep_Banana_6521@reddit

I think when somebody is on facetime it's not just talking, but a lot of the time you're hearing an amplified version of everything that's being broadcast. So if their mum or grandma are tapping rings on the phone as they talk, or breathing heavy, or there's TV on and background noise, it turns it into a wall of sound.

I'm patient and can deal with it, I hate it when I'm on the bus home from the pub with my partner and he starts talking loudly about private things, then when I say "Shhh" he's like "Oh...what have I done now?" and people start turning around.

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GoodTato@reddit

The fact that they could easily Not Do That

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PuzzleheadedCarob921@reddit

💯

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PuzzleheadedCarob921@reddit

There’s no reason to have a call on loudspeaker. It’s more annoying as you instantly know the person with the phone is a total a hole.

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DisastrousCanary3073@reddit

I remember a theory that we don't like to hear just one side of a conversation. Also, dispite great advances in technology, people still often bellow into phones, so it is louder than in person conversations.

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Icy_Mixture1482@reddit

I read that too. It forces your brain to fill in the blanks in the conversation.

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xdbojacx@reddit

Despite great advances in technology, one thing that all mobile devices are spectacularly bad at is being phones. This doesn't excuse bellowing into them, of course.

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having_an_accident@reddit

How are they spectacularly bad at being phones?

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spammehere98@reddit

I was ringing a helpline once and the agent couldn't hear me. She accused me of 'speaking into (my) phone'. I later realised she meant I was speaking into the screen and not lifting it up and speaking into the bottom.

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xdbojacx@reddit

Constant drop out of audio, calls dropping out altogether, calls not connected, calls connected but device fails to ring, erratic switching between mobile and wifi calling, etc.

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ddmf@reddit

What gets me is the scratchy resonance of the person on the other side of the call, it's like a tickle inside my brain and I can't block it out.

Autistic with hyperacusis and misophonia when overwhelmed with sensory information - like being on a bus for example.

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Old_Shake3789@reddit

I think cars are worse when they park up and turn their conversation all the way up so it's blasting through speakers. Like tf is the point?

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Significant-Unit-935@reddit

It's all about the bass. To much treble.

And it's drives me nuts too - cannot help but call it out every time.

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cr4lforce@reddit

I find it amazing that people talk on public transport like other people can't hear them.

I came off a subway train once and pointed out to 3 people as I was leaving that I:

-Now know where 2 of them live -they won't pay above £180 for an ounce of weed -1 still lives with his mum and needs to check im before picking up drugs

They looks on their faces hopefully means they learnt, you never know who's listening.

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Mugweiser@reddit

Because headphones are common and cheaply available.

The fact they’re choosing not to use them shows they don’t care about personal space or that they have a low IQ - likely somewhere in between.

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Imaginary_Finger7844@reddit

One is social interaction and the other is selfish, rude and divisive.

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IcyPuffin@reddit

A conversation on speakerphone tends to be quite loud.

2 people having a conversation in person on the bus tends to be quieter - we keep our voices to a reasonably lower level in this instance.

However some in person conversations can be quite loud - maybe as loud as a speakerphone conversation. Those can be equally annoying.

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actionsquid1@reddit

Because it’s so inherently selfish. The conversation between two people in-person is natural, and normal interaction. Fine. The person using speakerphone could have their conversation with their phone to their ear, but won’t. So it’s the selfishness that makes it more annoying, not the noises themselves

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Banana-sandwich@reddit

Because the sort of person that does this NEVER has anything interesting to say. I listened against my will to some guy bang on about his pension and retirement funds for at least 20 mins the other day. It's never ever juicy gossip or a harrowing yet gripping tale or comedy gold is it?

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CH4RL13WH1T3@reddit

Anything unnecessarily inconsiderate is more annoying. What about that don't you understand?

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PulsatingBalloonKnot@reddit

Because the option of putting it to your ear and maintain discretion is available. Wilfully ignoring that and being a pain in the arse to everyone, thinking we all want to hear what you think about someone, is just shit behaviour.

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SmartPipe3882@reddit

People who talk on speakerphone seem to universally believe they have to shout at their phone.

People talking to each other tend not to shout in each other’s faces.

I’ve got no issue, for instance, with people talking on the phone, or using some hands-free device. Those people seem able to judge an appropriate volume. But the speakerphone people? Almost universally cannot.

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Previous_Kale_4508@reddit

If people are going to facetime on a bus, they should learn BSL... 🤣🤣🤣

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MR_MaxiMor44@reddit

probably because there are other ways for the phone conversation to be had, be that holding the phone to their ear, using earbuds or just texting, if it's a facetime call, use earbuds. Whereas an in person conversation can only be had one way, obviously it would be annoying if they were quite far apart (opposite ends of a train/tube car or bus), but in terms of a normal conversation there is only one way. I suppose those conversing in person could whisper in each other's ears but that would look super suspicious and weird, unless is a couple being romantic.

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FuzzyPalpitation-16@reddit

the ones that get me are those having speakerphone convos on the DLR and we go through a tunnel or whatever and it cuts out and they’re like HELLO?? HELLO!!!?

😭😭

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BusAdditional6518@reddit

Because they’re cunts.

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britinnit@reddit

Because it never used to be a thing. Why should the whole bus have to hear your private conversation. Kids holding their phone out in front of them like a hotdog.

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FuzzyPalpitation-16@reddit

lol most of the time when this happens on my morning commute it’s an older people (60s above) not kids. the latter usually have headphones in always

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ZestyBeer@reddit

The phone has two modes: speaker, and earpiece.

Putting it on speaker so we all have to hear both sides of your private/personal conversation in public is a cunt move. If that's public transport, the Devil has already fashioned your eternity of torture in Hell.

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Mr_Coastliner@reddit

They don't need to do it. If the 2 people in person were shouting at each other to talk, I'd also be annoyed at that. If I was on the phone to someone and they had me on speakerphone on the train, I'd feel like I was doing public speaking so wouldn't want that!

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-TheHumorousOne-@reddit

Because 2 people having a conversation is the normal way to communicate, it's only annoying if they're being quite loud or disorderly.

A person talking on loudspeaker can actually use headphones or have their phone against their ear instead of pretending they're on the apprentice.

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