the.com/noise floor
The quietest a system ever gets — everything below is just hope.
means The baseline level of background interference or random fluctuation in a system, below which a real signal can't be reliably detected.
from A term from electronics and signal engineering, where 'floor' is used as it is in phrases like 'price floor' — a lower bound you can't sink beneath. Every circuit, sensor, or recording medium has some inherent static from thermal and electronic noise; that irreducible hiss forms a literal floor under which no signal can be heard, no matter how much you amplify. The phrase moved out of engineering labs into general use for any baseline level of ambient distraction beneath which a true signal gets lost.
- definition
- Residual signal present even with zero input
- measured in
- dBm or dB relative to full scale
- audio context
- The hiss you hear with volume maxed, nothing playing
- key limit
- Sets the smallest signal a system can detect