Perceived loudness of complex sounds depends on what the listener attends to.

Evidence

The interpretation of complex sounds which cover the whole frequency range is further complicated by psychological effects, in that a listener will attend to particular parts of the sound, such as the soloist, or conversation, and ignore or be less aware of other sounds, and will tend to base their per­ ception of loudness on what they have attended to. — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 654

The interpretation of complex sounds that cover the whole frequency range is further complicated by psychological effects, in that a listener will attend to particular parts of the sound, such as the soloist or conversation, and ignore or be less aware of other sounds and will tend to base their perception of loudness on what they have attended to. — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 668

Categorization

• XREF: Relates to the reader’s interest in interpreting life through psychacoustics — attention shapes experience, connecting to Deep Listening material about figure/ground.
• SEED: Angle: attention as the real loudness knob — the sounds you attend to are literally perceived as louder; a piece on how selective attention tunes perceived reality.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 654; David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 668