A 10 dB change roughly doubles or halves perceived loudness for complex sounds
Evidence
The mapping of sound pressure change to loudness variation for larger changes is also dependent on the nature of the sound signal. However, for broad-band noise or sounds with several harmonics, it is generally accepted that a change of about 10 dB in SPL corresponds to a doubling or halving of perceived loudness. However, this scaling factor is dependent on the nature of the sound, and there is some dispute over both its value and its validity. — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 659
The mapping of sound pressure change to loudness variation for larger changes is also dependent on the nature of the sound signal. However, for broad-band noise, or sounds with several harmonics, it is generally accepted that a change of about 10 dB in SPL corresponds to a doubling or halving of perceived loudness. However, this scaling factor is dependent on the nature of the sound, and there is some dispute over both its value and its validity. — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 639
However, for broad-band noise, or sounds with several harmonics, it is generally accepted that a change of about 10 dB in SPL corresponds to a doubling or halving of perceived loudness. However, this scaling factor is dependent on the nature of the sound, and there is some dispute over both its value and its validity. — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 639
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to the siren loudness measurements in The Soundscape, where raw dB figures gain perceptual meaning through this scaling rule.
- QUESTION: The admitted dispute over the scaling factor’s value is worth chasing — what ranges have been proposed and why?
- DEFINE: States the classic 10 dB-per-doubling loudness scaling rule.
- corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 659; David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 639