Human hearing spans a ratio of millions between faintest and painful sound

Evidence

The ear’s sensitivity to sounds of different frequencies varies over a vast sound pressure level range. On average, the minimum sound pressure variation that can be detected by the human hearing system around 4 kHz is approximately 10 micropascals (10 µPa), or 10−5 Pa. The maximum average sound pressure level that is heard rather than perceived as being painful is 64 Pa. — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 604

Categorization

• CANDY: A nice fact for cocktail conversation: the softest detectable sound is about 10 micropascals, the painful threshold about 64 pascals.
• DEFINE: Grounds the decibel concept in actual pressure values the reader can picture.
• XREF: connects to: Human hearing spans a 6.4-million-fold pressure range from faintest to painful; Human hearing spans over one billion in power from softest to painful. — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 1995; Human hearing spans sound pressures from 10-5 to 102 Pa — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 61 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Human hearing spans a 6.4-million-fold pressure range from faintest to painful #corroborates (1.00)
• Human audible pressure range spans over a million to one amplitude ratio #corroborates (1.00) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 193
• Real audible sound pressures span a range of one million to one in amplitude #corroborates (1.00) — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 180
• Human hearing spans seven orders of magnitude in sound pressure #corroborates (0.90)
• Hearing spans a pressure range greater than a million to one #corroborates (0.90) — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 886
• Human hearing spans over one billion in power from softest to painful. #contradicts (0.85) — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 1995
• Human hearing spans sound pressures from 10-5 to 102 Pa #corroborates (0.85) — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 61
• Sound pressure is tiny pressure deviation, and human hearing spans a specific Pa range #expands (0.80) — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 194