Having been at two LH parties, one with music and one without, I definitely ended up in the “large conversation with 2 people talking and 5 people listening”-situation much more in the party without music.
That said, I did find it much easier to meet new people at the party without music, as this also makes it much easier to join conversations that sound interesting when you walk past (being able to actually overhear them).
This might be one of the reasons why people tend to progressively increase the volume of the music during parties. First give people a chance to meet interesting people and easily join conversations. Then increase the volume to facilitate smaller conversations.
Yeah, when there’s loud music it’s much easier for me to understand people I know than people I don’t because I’m already used to their speaking patterns, and can more easily infer what they said even when I don’t hear it perfectly. And also because any misunderstanding or difficulty that rises out of not hearing each other well is less awkward with someone I already know than someone I do.
Having been at two LH parties, one with music and one without, I definitely ended up in the “large conversation with 2 people talking and 5 people listening”-situation much more in the party without music.
That said, I did find it much easier to meet new people at the party without music, as this also makes it much easier to join conversations that sound interesting when you walk past (being able to actually overhear them).
This might be one of the reasons why people tend to progressively increase the volume of the music during parties. First give people a chance to meet interesting people and easily join conversations. Then increase the volume to facilitate smaller conversations.
Yeah, when there’s loud music it’s much easier for me to understand people I know than people I don’t because I’m already used to their speaking patterns, and can more easily infer what they said even when I don’t hear it perfectly. And also because any misunderstanding or difficulty that rises out of not hearing each other well is less awkward with someone I already know than someone I do.