Objective sound amplitude measures do not describe perceived loudness.

Evidence

The ear is a pressure sensitive organ that divides the audio spectrum into a set of overlapping frequency bands whose band­ width increases with frequency. These are both objective descriptions of the amplitude and the function of the ear. However, they tell us noth­ ing about the perception of loudness in relation to the objective measures of sound amplitude level. — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 605

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the core distinction between objective pressure level and perceived loudness that drives the whole chapter.
• XREF: connects to: Whether a sound counts as noise depends on subjective interpretation, not acoustics — Almo Farina, Soundscape Ecology: Principles,…, 1025; Physical sound measurement cannot capture the subjective semantic meaning of a sonic environment — Almo Farina, Soundscape Ecology: Principles,…, 1159; The soundscape is a cognitive construct, not an objective physical reality — Almo Farina, Soundscape Ecology: Principles,…, 1451