Listener response uncertainty concentrates in the 5-25 CU loudness range.

Evidence

The most uncertainty (shallow slopes) is observed across the 5–25 CU categories. The most across-listener variability in category width is observed for 5 CU, which spans in width from a maximum of 50 dB to a minimum of 3 dB. A higher threshold and/or lower LDL results in a horizontally compressed MCPF; this compression narrows all intermediate categories. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 2549

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• QUESTION: Why is uncertainty concentrated specifically in 5-25 CU? Likely relates to loudness growth slope in that region — worth digging into the underlying physiology.

Related

• Mid-range loudness categories show the most listener uncertainty (similarity 0.94)
• Loudness category boundaries are least certain in the mid 5-25 CU range (similarity 0.93)
• Loudness category uncertainty peaks in the very soft to medium range (similarity 0.92)
• Listener variability in category width is greatest at the softest loudness category. (similarity 0.90)
• Loudness perception is probabilistic, with a response distribution at each stimulus level. (similarity 0.81)
• Loudness response variability is informative signal, not noise to discard (similarity 0.81)
• Shallow psychometric slopes reflect listener response uncertainty (similarity 0.81)
• Elevated hearing thresholds and lower LDLs compress loudness category spacing horizontally. (similarity 0.81)
• Categorical loudness data is probabilistic, not reducible to a median response curve. (similarity 0.79)
• Listeners with identical hearing thresholds differ in suprathreshold loudness perception (similarity 0.79)
• The full loudness range squeezes into a smaller dynamic range for impaired listeners. (similarity 0.79)
• Duration perception distortion is largely level-independent above 30 phon (similarity 0.79)
• Loudness growth is linear up to 80 dB then steepens near 90 dB (similarity 0.79)
• Listener preference tolerances on headphone frequency response are narrowest through midrange (similarity 0.79)
• Loudness judgments at a fixed level vary probabilistically across categories (similarity 0.79)