Combining vario and radio output into one speaker

On Friday, February 27, 2015 at 2:03:14 PM UTC-5, Dan Marotta wrote:
my radio speaker mounted to the
bulkhead behind my right ear.

Is it better to have the radio audio output balanced between both ears? I assume that this would result in higher comprehension of radio calls with lower sound pressure (DB) driving each ear. If the speaker drives both ears equally, can you turn down the volume and get the same or better comprehension?

Is it better for the radio speaker(s) to have line of sight to the ears rather than bouncing the sound energy off the hard surfaces in the glider?

My thought is that the best solution is TWO small speakers each with line of sight to one ear. If the audio output bounces off a variety of hard surfaces, the echos will combine and make the signal that reaches the ears 'fuzzy'. So higher sound pressure will be needed.

So why do I want to minimize sound pressure? Hearing loss from exposure to high sound pressure is incremental and cumulative. The first step is to reduce wind noise in the cockpit. But the squeals coming over the air from malfunctioning radios are still pretty loud. Loud enough to be annoying and maybe loud enough to cause a tiny accumulating bit of hearing loss. There is no reason to not turn the radio down as low as feasible.

The vario can have one speaker buried anywhere. Unless you have one of those talking varios... a beep is a beep.