Cross-modality scaling yields a true ratio scale that numeric rating cannot guarantee.

Evidence

I stopped anchoring the scale at the low end, and an interesting thing happened: most listeners continued to use the same numerical range to describe what they heard. The scores rarely went above 8, which is a common subjective scaling phenomenon—people like to leave some “headroom” in case something better comes along. The advantage was that it was now easier to distinguish the rankings of the remaining loudspeakers because they were more widely separated on the scale. However, it was evident that they were no longer judging on the same scale—the upper end of it had stretched. When listening to just a few of the top-rated loudspeakers, which in Figure 3.19 would have been crowded together, statistically difficult to separate, the same product ratings would cover a much larger portion of the scale and be easy to separate and rank. Listeners were still judging fidelity, but it was rated on an elastic scale. — , Toole, Floyd E - Sound reproduction-…, 300 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Subjective rating scales stretch elastically as stimulus range narrows — , Toole, Floyd E - Sound reproduction-…, 300; Psychophysical scales are built from repeated ratio-adjustment judgments plus an anchor point

Related

• Subjective rating scales stretch elastically as stimulus range narrows (similarity 0.89)
• Psychophysical scales are built from repeated ratio-adjustment judgments plus an anchor point (similarity 0.82)
• Relative magnitude judgments can be anchored into absolute psychophysical scales (similarity 0.80)
• Psychophysical scales are built by adjusting sounds to match reference ratios (similarity 0.80)
• Sensory scales can be calibrated for equal intensity across different attributes (similarity 0.79)
• Magnitude estimation of loudness yields only relative, not absolute, values. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Psychophysical scales are built from repeated ratio-adjustment judgments plus an anchor point #expands (0.85)
• Subjective rating scales stretch elastically as stimulus range narrows #complicates (0.75) — , Toole, Floyd E - Sound reproduction-…, 300