A device for compressing an audio signal, comprising: a fast signal level estimator, SLE, (502, 702) and a slow signal level estimator (504, 704) for receiving the audio signal, each SLE having a low-pass filter parameterized by a rise time constant and a decay time constant; a fast level-to-gain transformer (506, 706) for transforming a signal level estimate to a gain value; a slow level-to-gain transformer (508, 708) for transforming a signal level estimate to a gain value; an output amplifier (510, 710) having an adjustable gain for amplifying the audio signal; either: circuitry configured such that the output of the slow SLE is subtracted from the output of the fast SLE and then input to the fast level-to-gain transformer; or circuitry configured such that the output of the slow SLE is subtracted from the audio signal and then input to the fast SLE and such that the output of the fast SLE is input to the fast level-to-gain transformer circuitry configured such that the output of the slow SLE (504, 704) is input to the slow level-to-gain transformer (508, 708); circuitry configured so that the gain values of the fast level-to-gain transformer (506, 706) and the slow level-to-gain transformer (508, 708) are summed to adjust the gain of the output amplifier (510, 710); characterized by circuitry configured such that the gain value of the fast level-to-gain transformer (506, 706) is multiplied by a weighting factor before being summed with the gain value of the slow level-to-gain transformer (508, 708), and such that the weighting factor is computed as a function of the output of the slow SLE (504, 704). a fast signal level estimator, SLE, (502, 702) and a slow signal level estimator (504, 704) for receiving the audio signal, each SLE having a low-pass filter parameterized by a rise time constant and a decay time constant; a fast level-to-gain transformer (506, 706) for transforming a signal level estimate to a gain value; a slow level-to-gain transformer (508, 708) for transforming a signal level estimate to a gain value; an output amplifier (510, 710) having an adjustable gain for amplifying the audio signal; either: circuitry configured such that the output of the slow SLE is subtracted from the output of the fast SLE and then input to the fast level-to-gain transformer; or circuitry configured such that the output of the slow SLE is subtracted from the audio signal and then input to the fast SLE and such that the output of the fast SLE is input to the fast level-to-gain transformer circuitry configured such that the output of the slow SLE is subtracted from the output of the fast SLE and then input to the fast level-to-gain transformer; or circuitry configured such that the output of the slow SLE is subtracted from the audio signal and then input to the fast SLE and such that the output of the fast SLE is input to the fast level-to-gain transformer circuitry configured such that the output of the slow SLE (504, 704) is input to the slow level-to-gain transformer (508, 708); circuitry configured so that the gain values of the fast level-to-gain transformer (506, 706) and the slow level-to-gain transformer (508, 708) are summed to adjust the gain of the output amplifier (510, 710); characterized by circuitry configured such that the gain value of the fast level-to-gain transformer (506, 706) is multiplied by a weighting factor before being summed with the gain value of the slow level-to-gain transformer (508, 708), and such that the weighting factor is computed as a function of the output of the slow SLE (504, 704).