Just-noticeable SPL differences stay constant near 1 dB across wide ranges

Evidence

A 1-dB change in SPL thus produces very different changes in the value of loudness in sones at low and high levels of the SPL. Technical applications often use the loudness level, since the JND of the SPL of sound events is constant at about 1 dB (or 1 phon) over a wide range of SPLs (Fastl and Zwicker, 2007). A change in a certain number of phons thus corresponds to a similar change in the perceived ‘strength’ of an auditory event, which is beneficial in auditory models and sound and voice techniques. — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 1132

Categorization

Category: Causal Relationships

• XREF: Why phons are preferred over sones in engineering — directly relevant to audio/sound design application work.
• SEED: The JND constancy of phons is the basis for why perceptual audio models use loudness level; could seed an explanation of perceptual audio coding or loudness normalization standards.

Related

• Louder signals need disproportionately more dB to double perceived loudness (similarity 0.91)
• JNDL level dependence unifies across frequency when scaled to loudness level (similarity 0.85)
• Humans detect level changes of about 1 dB at moderate volumes (similarity 0.85)
• The ear’s amplitude sensitivity varies with loudness and tonal complexity (similarity 0.84)
• Level discrimination thresholds grow steeply near hearing threshold (similarity 0.83)
• The just-noticeable difference quantifies the smallest audible change in a sound (similarity 0.82)
• Amplitude discrimination depends on relative loudness increment, not absolute change (similarity 0.82)
• A 1 dB level change anchors the model for just-noticeable slow sound variations (similarity 0.82)
• A 1 dB level change marks a recurring just-noticeable unit in hearing (similarity 0.82)
• Humans can typically discriminate level differences of 1 to 2 dB (similarity 0.81)
• Raising a sound’s loudness shifts its perceived pitch except near 1-2 kHz. (similarity 0.81)
• The ear’s just-noticeable amplitude difference depends on signal type, level, and frequency (similarity 0.81)
• The factor of 20 in SPL makes one decibel equal a just-noticeable loudness step (similarity 0.81)
• Detecting level variation is about 2.5 times harder than detecting level difference (similarity 0.81)
• SIL and SPL always change in proportion even where their absolute values differ (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Hearing-impaired level just-noticeable-differences are about 1 to 2 dB #corroborates (0.85) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3124