A-weighted sound pressure level misrepresents the loudness of broadband noises

Evidence

The loudest sounds, when presented at equal SPLs, are in the 2 to 6 kHz range. • Loudness depends on stimulus bandwidth: For bandwidths greater than a critical band, loudness increases with increasing bandwidth, a phenomenon called spectral loudness summation. A sound can be loud because of a high sound level or because it has a broad bandwidth. • Weber’s law predicts that the just detectable amount of intensity is proportional to the intensity of the sound (DI/I = k). Weber’s law holds for noise at moderate-to-high levels but not for low levels or for tones. Tones exhibit a near miss, in which DI/I or DL decreases with increasing intensity. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 868 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: A-weighted dB values misrepresent perceived loudness for complex sounds. — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 1176; Wider bandwidth increases perceived loudness at equal sound pressure — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 868; A-weighting can miss dominant low-frequency energy in broadband sounds (+15 more)

Related

• Loudness curves from anechoic pure tones fail on real broadband program material (similarity 0.95)
• A-weighting can miss dominant low-frequency energy in broadband sounds (similarity 0.92)
• A-weighted dB values misrepresent perceived loudness for complex sounds. (similarity 0.91)
• A-weighting is recommended for all sound levels despite fitting low levels best (similarity 0.90)
• Wideband sounds are louder than narrowband sounds at equal dB SPL (similarity 0.90)
• Wider bandwidth increases perceived loudness at equal sound pressure (similarity 0.89)
• ISO standardized loudness-based noise metrics because A-weighting proved inadequate (similarity 0.88)
• A-weighted decibels are a rough practical approximation of perceived loudness (similarity 0.87)
• Loudness is the summed specific loudness across critical-band rates, not the raw spectral level (similarity 0.86)
• A-weighted decibels better predict hearing damage than unweighted sound pressure level. (similarity 0.86)
• C-weighting captures low frequencies better at high sound pressures (similarity 0.85)
• Loudness-calculating procedures outperform simple SPL for practical noise reduction (similarity 0.85)
• Loudness meters use frequency weightings as a compromise because ear response varies with level (similarity 0.84)
• Perceived loudness does not map one-to-one onto acoustic amplitude (similarity 0.84)
• Loudness scales with frequency squared, requiring large amplitude at low frequencies (similarity 0.84)

Broader Connections

• A-weighting can miss dominant low-frequency energy in broadband sounds #exemplifies (0.92)
• Wider bandwidth increases perceived loudness at equal sound pressure #corroborates (0.85) — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 868
• ISO standardized loudness-based noise metrics because A-weighting proved inadequate #corroborates (0.85)
• Equal-loudness-contour weighting schemes failed as loudness meters #corroborates (0.85)
• Loudness curves from anechoic pure tones fail on real broadband program material #corroborates (0.82)
• A-weighted decibels are a rough practical approximation of perceived loudness #qualifies (0.80) — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 988
• Perceived loudness does not map one-to-one onto acoustic amplitude #expands (0.80) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 616