A decibel problem?

Recently, an open letter appeared from a music industry executive raising a concern. This gentleman, Angelo Montrone, is the vice president of A&R (Artists & Repertoire) at One Haven Music, a Sony subsidiary.
In short, he complains about excessive compression and padding, resulting in increased volume, in current recordings compared to, say, those from the 1980s. This all leads to excessive ear fatigue, resulting in listeners feeling prematurely tired.
Here's an excerpt:

There’s something . . . sinister in audio that is causing our listeners fatigue and even pain while trying to enjoy their favorite music. It has been propagated by A&R departments for the last eight years: The complete abuse of compression in mastering (forced on the mastering engineers against their will and better judgment).

Among other evidence, he brings two recordings by the same group, Los Lonely Boys, made several years apart. Listen to the Lonely Boys several years ago and today. Note that the songs are indeed similar, but the current arrangement is much fuller and the average level is higher.

This intrigued me because I sometimes get this feeling, too.
There are two ways to measure the amplitude of a sound (what is generally called volume): peak amplitude and RMS (Root Mean Square) amplitude.
The first measures the instantaneous amplitude of peaks, that is, the points with the highest volume but with the shortest duration. Physiologically, this data is important because it is precisely sudden, very loud peaks that can cause damage to the eardrum (the eardrum's defense mechanism, in fact, takes about 1/10 of a second to kick in).
The second, however, is an average that makes sense over long durations (even 1 minute or more). From a physiological point of view, a high level of RMS amplitude fatigues the auditory system. Clearly, it's the latter that Mr. Montrone brings up.
Since we're talking about CDs, which don't have an absolute volume because they depend on amplification, all measurements are made with respect to the CD's theoretical maximum, which is the same for all discs and is the maximum amplitude possible using 16 bits, the audio CD standard.
Consequently, we measure the distance from the maximum possible, defined as 0 dB. That is, we look at how much the recording has saturated the available amplitude and for how long.

At this point, the measurements began. It was discovered that, in the second half of the 1980s, the average amplitude (RMS) of pop music records was around -15 dB, that is, 15 decibels below the maximum possible. Currently, however, the average has risen to values ranging from -12 to -9 dB, meaning the recording is much more saturated (consider that a difference of 6 dB is equivalent to double).
My measurements confirm this trend. It should be noted that I don't have many recent records and that, in any case, my tastes are a bit peculiar. The most common things I own are King Crimson or Peter Gabriel, but I really need Top 10 records.
However, I can add that, while records from the late '80s are actually recorded at around -15 dB on average, in the early '80s we were at around -19 dB, and in the '70s (remastered) at -22 dB.
The upward trend, therefore, isn't just recent, but has always existed.

What it is is simple to say. It's about the compression method. Basically, the recording is first compressed, reducing the differences between soft and loud, then the average is raised to occupy the upper part of the amplitude range. Now, with 24/32-bit recording, we can do even better.
This way, the song sounds louder, more punchy, but also flatter, with fewer dynamic differences.
It's harder, however, to understand why this craze arose. It's not just a genre shift. We're talking about the top 10, not punk.
It seems to depend, more than anything, on the way we consume music. Today, we listen to it differently than 20 or 30 years ago. In the car, on the train, while running, on the computer, etc. And so music has to compete with other sounds. Perhaps.

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