overamplify

over- +‎ amplify

overamplify (third-person singular simple present overamplifies, present participle overamplifying, simple past and past participle overamplified)

1. To amplify to an extent that distorts the original sound or signal
   • 2006, Sara Paretsky, Fire Sale‎, page 109:

     Pastor Andres's public voice was deep and rumbly; with the mike overamplifying him, and the faint Hispanic accent, he was hard to understand.

2. To amplify to an extent that is undesirably loud.
   • 2006, Patricia Spencer, Advances in the Spoken-Language Development of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children, →ISBN:

     Physiological thresholds can differ from behavioral thresholds by ±15–20 dB HL. Thus, without verification of behavioral responses with amplification, hearing aids may underamplify or overamplify.

   • 2014, Michael J. Metz, Sandlin's Textbook of Hearing Aid Amplification, →ISBN:

     What is interesting to note here is that the 2⁄3 gain can be seen to overamplify over the curved line of the impaired ear more than underamplifies, whereas the 1⁄3 gain curve illustrates the opposite, where it tends to underamplify sound to the ear.

• underamplify
• amplify