Definitions for "Ambient sound"
Natural background sounds, representative of a given recording environment. If an on-camera dialogue is considered primary sound; traffic noise or a refrigerator hum would be ambient sound.
Background noise that gets mixed in with the target sounds. In a recording of a sermon, for example, some ambient sound is desirable from the house mike(s) to give a sense of resonance and reverberation, as in a large auditorium. Too much ambient sound will make the recording seem mushy, hollow, or booming. Headphones are required to discern the proper balance of ambient sound and target sound. See Presence.
also known as ambient noise Sounds that are particular to a specific location or setting (e.g., waves in a beach scene or traffic and construction sounds in an urban setting.)