Translation of “… desto eher zu …”

Question

How should we translate this sentence from a 1918 paper on a phenomenon of electricity in conductors?

Der Schroteffekt gibt desto eher zu Störungen Anlass, je größer die Abklingzeit, je kleiner also die Dämpfung des Empfangkreises ist.

The latter part from je onwards is easy, but the composition of desto eher zu is somewhat difficult. Google Translate is showing:

The shot noise effect is more likely to cause disruption …

The dictionary meanings of desto is "all the" and eher implies earlier/ sooner and it does not match Google Translate. The wordings all the sooner does not make much sense. How is the desto eher combination typically used?

Answer 1

The word-pair »je - desto« is in English "the - the"

Je jünger Kinder sind, desto kleiner sind sie.
The jounger children are, the smaller they are.

and »desto eher« is "the more likely":

Je lauter die Party ist, desto eher rufen die Nachbarn die Polizei.
The louder the party is, the more likely the neighbors will call the police.

This was your sentence. Cause and effect are in reverse order here, so »desto« (the effect) comes before the two causes (»je« appears twice, once for each cause):

Der Schroteffekt gibt desto eher zu Störungen Anlass, je größer die Abklingzeit, je kleiner also die Dämpfung des Empfangkreises ist.

English is just a foreign language to me, but I think »"the more likely"« is a usefull translation:

The shot noise effect is the more likely to cause disruption, the greater the decay time is, i.e. the smaller the attenuation/damping of the reception circuit is.

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The word »zu« has nothing to do with »je - desto«. It is part of the phrase:

zu etwas Anlass geben = etwas verursachen
to give a cause to something = to cause something