Subjective judgment remains the ultimate reference for loudness measurement schemes

Evidence

It is important to remember that in evaluating all these loudness measurement schemes, the reference has been a purely subjective judgment. So, in the absence of any instrumentation, an unbiased subjective comparison of loudness is irrefutably correct but is likely to be somewhat variable among listeners and programs. Over the years I have used the prevailing favorite weighting, beginning with A, moving to B and ending up with C. As I said in my first JAES paper, Toole, 1982, even when measured levels are identical “listeners should be interrogated on the matter of relative loudness of sounds and the levels adjusted as necessary to remove anomalies”. — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 1185

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to research methodology in psychoacoustics and how measurement schemes always trace back to subjective anchors. — connects to: Whether a sound counts as noise depends on subjective interpretation, not acoustics — Almo Farina, Soundscape Ecology: Principles,…, 1025