Soundbrake

SoundBrake is a system volume monitoring program that tracks continuous exposure to high audio levels. When users exceed configurable time thresholds, it sends native desktop notifications and, at critical levels, automatically lowers the volume to prevent hearing damage. The application operates in the background without internet connection or data collection.

★★★★★

4.3(3 ratings)

• Real-time volume monitoring. The program queries the system output volume every 5 seconds using the native audio API. It accumulates exposure time only when audio is actively playing, not when volume is high in silence. This function measures actual risk without false alarms.
• Three-tier alert system. Defines three volume thresholds: Level 1 (75-84%), Level 2 (85-94%), and Critical (≥95%). For each level there is a cumulative exposure time that triggers the corresponding notification. Level 1 requires 60 continuous minutes, Level 2 requires 20 minutes, and Critical level triggers automatic reduction after 4 sustained minutes.
• Automatic volume reduction at critical level. When the system remains for 4 consecutive minutes at volume equal to or above 95% with active audio, SoundBrake sends a notification and executes an automatic volume reduction to a safe level (default 30%). This function prevents immediate exposure to levels that cause rapid damage.
• Timer reset on device change. The program detects output device changes every 30 seconds. When headphones are plugged or unplugged, all exposure counters and cooldown timers reset. This ensures each device starts a fresh session without carrying exposure time from another hardware device.
• Progressive backoff on notification dismiss. When the user clicks "Dismiss" on a notification, a cooldown period begins before the next warning can appear. For Level 1 and Level 2, the initial cooldown lasts 15 minutes, and each consecutive dismiss doubles the time up to a maximum of 2 hours. For Critical level, the initial cooldown is 10 minutes with the same progression.
• Silence for 24 hours mode. From the system tray icon, the user can activate "Silence for 24 hours". This action suppresses all notifications and automatic reductions for a full day. The state is saved to a file (silence.dat in %AppData%\SoundBrake on Windows or ~/.config/SoundBrake on macOS/Linux) and persists across system reboots.
• Support for 13 languages without configuration. The application automatically detects the operating system language and displays notifications in that language. Supported languages are: English, Turkish, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Japanese, Korean, and Simplified Chinese. On Windows, Chinese can be forced via the registry key HKCU\Software\SoundBrake\Language = chinese.
• Cross-platform compatibility with multilingual installer. The program runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. The installation wizard supports 12 languages (all except Chinese) to facilitate installation in different regions. The executable size is under 5 MB and requires no external dependencies.
• Audio activity detection. SoundBrake does not accumulate exposure time if the system is not playing sound, even when volume is set to a high level. This function prevents penalties for leaving volume elevated while no audio content is active, measuring only actual risk.
• Exposure reset when lowering to safe volume. When volume drops to the safe range (0-74%) or the user manually lowers to a moderate level, the accumulated exposure counter resets completely. This encourages maintaining moderate volumes and allows starting a new measurement from zero each time a safe level is resumed.
• No telemetry and no external connection. The application requires no internet connection, sends no usage data, collects no statistics, and needs no user account. All monitoring and decision logic runs locally on the machine, guaranteeing complete privacy regarding the user's listening habits.
• Efficient monitoring with low resource usage. The program is written in Go and uses a background goroutine that performs periodic polling without consuming significant resources. CPU usage is near zero when idle, and memory consumption is minimal, allowing continuous operation for days without impact on system performance.

SoundBrake was created by developer Enes (username eneswritescode). Development began in the year 2023 as a response to the need for a hearing protection tool that did not rely on cloud services or collect data. The program is written entirely in the Go programming language (Golang), using native operating system libraries to access audio APIs and desktop notifications.

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