system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How are we able to distinguish between loud sounds that are far away and quieter sounds that are nearby?

For example, how can I know that a sound is a firework in the distance and not just a balloon popping outside my house?
gpt
We cannot always tell. However, typically distant sounds have a slight echo (more precisely, they arrive at your ear through multiple paths after bouncing off different things), so the sound isn't quite as sharp and clear as if it were a nearby sound.