A 10 dB increase always doubles perceived loudness above 40 dB

Evidence

Increasing sound by 10 dB doubles the loudness. For any dB SPL value above 40, increasing 10 dB doubles the sones. For example, if we increase the decibel level of a sound from 40 to 50 dB SPL, the loudness goes from one sone to two sones, a doubling of loudness. Changing the sound level 50 to 60 dB, the loudness changes from 2 to 4 sones, and so on. Decreasing the sound level by 10 dB also halves the loudness. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 720

Increasing sound by 10 dB doubles the loudness. For any dB SPL value above 40, increasing 10 dB doubles the sones. For example, if we increase the decibel level of a sound from 40 to 50 dB SPL, the loudness goes from one sone to two sones, a doubling of loudness. Changing the sound level 50 to 60 dB, the loudness changes from 2 to 4 sones, and so on. Decreasing the sound level by 10 dB also halves the loudness. • A power relationship between sound intensity and loudness. When loudness ratings are plotted on a logarithmic scale against sound pressure level in dB SPL, the data fall on a straight line. This indicates that there is a power relationship between the perceived loudness of a stimulus and the intensity. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 720

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the decibel/log-scale material in earlier chapters of this text on intensity scaling. — connects to: Doubling perceived loudness requires a 10 dB increase. — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 889; Below 40 phon, loudness falls faster than the 10-phon-per-doubling rule predicts; A tenfold intensity increase is perceived as only twice as loud — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 143 (+5 more)
• CANDY: A clean, tweetable sound fact: +10 dB sounds twice as loud.
• corroborated: 4 independent passages support this claim — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 720

Broader Connections

• Perceived loudness doubles with every 10 dB increase, not every 3 dB of intensity. #corroborates (0.95)
• Loudness perception requires a tenfold intensity increase to double #corroborates (0.90) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 652