A 1 dB level change marks a recurring just-noticeable unit in hearing

Evidence

The two scales used as ordinate in that figure indicate that a degree of modulation of 6% corresponds to a change in level of 1 dB. This is a characteristic value that will occur repeatedly in studying the ear’s information processing, and it is interesting to realize that the just-noticeable degree of amplitude modulation for the I-kHz tone seems to have a tendency to stabilize with increasing level at about 6% (corresponding to 1 dB) but falls off for levels above 50 dB and continues to decrease. — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 1019

Categorization

• SEED: The recurring ‘1 dB is just noticeable’ constant could anchor an accessible explainer on how hearing’s discriminative limits translate into concrete perceptual units.