Doubling perceived loudness requires a 10 dB increase.

Evidence

A 10 dB level change is perceived as approximately double or half loudness for midand high-frequency sounds. The difference in power output from amplifiers or loudspeakers is a substantial factor of 10. A 3 dB change is a nicely audible difference, a kind of “turn the volume up a little, please” magnitude of difference. The change in power is a factor of two, which is not trivial. A 1 dB change is a detectable level change in everyday listening and the power level change is small, a factor of 1.26. — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 889

The result of the 1-kHz loudness listening test discussed in Section 10.2.1 is shown in Figure 10.9, where one can see that at levels higher than 40 dB the loudness is doubled with an increase in level of 10 dB. — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1133

Categorization

• XREF: Core psychoacoustic scaling rule linking stimulus intensity to perceptual loudness—central to the reader’s modeling interest. — connects to: A 10 dB increase always doubles perceived loudness above 40 dB — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 720; Perceived loudness doubles with every 10 dB increase, not every 3 dB of intensity.; Loudness perception requires a tenfold intensity increase to double — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 652 (+5 more)
• SHARE: A tidy rule of thumb: 10 dB up roughly doubles perceived loudness — nice party/lab fact for anyone in audio.
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 889; Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1133

Broader Connections

• Perceived loudness doubles with every 10 dB increase, not every 3 dB of intensity. #corroborates (1.00)
• A tenfold intensity increase is perceived as only twice as loud #corroborates (1.00) — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 143
• Loudness perception requires a tenfold intensity increase to double #expands (0.95) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 652
• A 10 dB increase always doubles perceived loudness above 40 dB #qualifies (0.90) — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 720
• Doubling loudness needs ten times the violinists #exemplifies (0.90)
• Loudness grows as a power law of physical intensity so relative changes match #corroborates (0.90) — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 1262
• Perceived loudness grows nearly linearly with intensity until steepening near 90 dB SPL #contradicts (0.82) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 2626
• Each 10 dB of level requires ten times the amplifier power #qualifies (0.80)