Loudness - wikipedia Loudness For the Japanese band, see Loudness ( band ). The horizontal axis shows frequency in Hz In acoustics, loudness is the subjective perception of sound pressure. More formally, it is defined as, `` That attribute of auditory sensation in terms of which sounds can be ordered on a scale extending from quiet to loud. '' The relation of physical attributes of sound to perceived loudness consists of physical, physiological and psychological components. The study of apparent loudness is included in the topic of psychoacoustics and employs methods of psychophysics. In different industries, loudness may have different meanings and different measurement standards. Some definitions, such as ITU - R BS. 1770 refer to relative loudness of different segments of electronically reproduced sounds, such as for broadcasting and cinema. Others, such as ISO 532A ( Stevens loudness, measured in sones ), ISO 532B ( Zwicker loudness ), DIN 45631 and ASA / ANSI S3. 4, have a more general scope and are often used to characterize loudness of environmental noise. Loudness, a subjective measure, often confused with physical measures of sound strength such as sound pressure, sound pressure level ( in decibels ), sound intensity or sound power. Filters such as A-weighting and LKFS attempt to compensate measurements to correspond to loudness as perceived by the typical human. Contents 1 Explanation 2 Hearing loss 3 Compensation 4 Normalization 4.1 Broadcast 4.2 Movie and home theaters 4.3 Music playback 5 Measurement 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References Explanation The perception of loudness is related to sound pressure level ( SPL ), frequency content and duration of a sound. The relationship between SPL and loudness of a single tone can be approximated by Stevens 's power law in which SPL has an exponent of 0.67. More precise measurements indicate that loudness increases with a higher exponent at low and high levels and with a lower exponent at moderate levels. The sensitivity of the human ear changes as a function of frequency, as shown in the equal - loudness graph. Each line on this graph shows the SPL required for frequencies to be perceived as equally loud, and different curves pertain to different sound pressure levels. It also shows that humans with normal hearing are most sensitive to sounds around 2 -- 4 kHz, with sensitivity declining to either side of this region. A complete model of the perception of loudness will include the integration of SPL by frequency. Historically, loudness was measured using an `` ear - balance '' audiometer in which the amplitude of a sine wave was adjusted by the user to equal the perceived loudness of the sound being evaluated. Contemporary standards for measurement of loudness are based on summation of energy in critical bands. Hearing loss When sensorineural hearing loss ( damage to the cochlea or in the brain ) is present, the perception of loudness is altered. Sounds at low levels ( often perceived by those without hearing loss as relatively quiet ) are no longer audible to the hearing impaired, but sounds at high levels often are perceived as having the same loudness as they would for an unimpaired listener. This phenomenon can be explained by two theories, called `` loudness recruitment '' and `` softness imperception ''. Loudness recruitment ( LR ) posits that loudness grows more rapidly for certain listeners than normal listeners with changes in level. This theory has been accepted as the classical explanation. Softness imperception ( SI ), a term coined by Mary Florentine around 2002, proposes that some listeners with sensorineural hearing loss may exhibit a normal rate of loudness growth, but instead have an elevated loudness at their threshold. That is, the softest sound that is audible to these listeners is louder than the softest sound audible to normal listeners. Compensation Main article : Loudness compensation The `` loudness '' control on some consumer stereos alters the frequency response curve to correspond roughly with the equal loudness characteristic of the ear. Loudness compensation is intended to make the recorded music sound more natural when played at a lower levels by boosting low frequencies, to which the ear is less sensitive at lower sound pressure levels. Normalization Loudness normalization is a specific type of audio normalization that equalizes perceived level such that, for instance, commercials do not sound louder than television programs. Loudness normalization schemes exist for a number of audio applications. Broadcast Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act European Broadcasting Union R128 Movie and home theaters Dialnorm Music playback Sound Check in iTunes ReplayGain Measurement Historically Sone ( loudness N ) and Phon ( loudness level L ) units have been used to measure loudness. A-weighting follows human sensitivity to sound and describes relative perceived loudness for at quiet to moderate speech levels, around 40 phons. However, physiological loudness perception is a much more complex process than can be captured with a single correction curve. Not only do equal - loudness contours vary with intensity, but perceived loudness of a complex sound depends on whether its spectral components are closely or widely spaced in frequency. When generating neural impulses in response to sounds of one frequency, the ear is less sensitive to nearby frequencies, which are said to be in the same critical band. Sounds containing spectral components in many critical bands are perceived as louder, even if the total sound pressure remains constant. Relative loudness monitoring in production is measured in accordance with ITU - R BS. 1770 in units of LKFS. Work began on ITU - R BS. 1770 in 2001 after 0 dBFS+ level distortion in converters and lossy codecs had become evident ; and the original Leq ( RLB ) loudness metric was proposed by Gilbert Soulodre in 2003. Based on data from subjective listening tests, Leq ( RLB ) was compared against numerous other algorithms where it did remarkably well. After modification of the frequency weighting, the measurement was made multi-channel ( monaural to 5.1 surround sound ). CBC, Dolby and TC Electronic and numerous broadcasters contributed to the listening tests. To make the loudness metric cross-genre friendly, a relative measurement gate was added. This work was carried out in 2008 by the EBU. The improvements were brought back into BS. 1770 - 2. ITU subsequently updated the true - peak metric ( BS. 1770 - 3 ) and added provision for more audio channels, for instance 22.2 surround sound ( BS. 1770 - 4 ). See also Loudness war Sending loudness rating Volume in acoustics is related to : Amplitude Sound pressure Dynamics LKFS, loudness standard for broadcast television and radio ( also known as LUFS ) Notes Jump up ^ The relationship between loudness and energy intensity of sound can therefore be approximated by a power function with an exponent of 0.3. References Jump up ^ American National Standards Institute, `` American national psychoacoustical terminology '' S3. 20, 1973, American Standards Association. ^ Jump up to : Olson, Harry F. ( February 1972 ). `` The Measurement of Loudness '' ( PDF ). Audio : 18 -- 22. Jump up ^ As described in IEC 532, DIN 45631 and ASA / ANSI S3. 4 Jump up ^ Mary Florentine ( March 2003 ), It 's not recruitment - gasp ! ! It 's softness imperception, 56 ( 3 ), Hearing Journal, pp. 10, 12, 14, 15, doi : 10.1097 / 01. HJ. 0000293012.17887. b4 Jump up ^ Lenk, John D. ( 1998 ). Circuit Troubleshooting Handbook. McGraw - Hill. p. 163. ISBN 0 - 07 - 038185 - 2. Jump up ^ EBU Recommendation R 128 : Loudness normalisation and permitted maximum level of audio signals ( PDF ), European Broadcasting Union, August 2011, retrieved 2013 - 04 - 22 Jump up ^ Recommendation BS. 1770, International Telecommunication Union, August 2012, retrieved 2013 - 05 - 31 Jump up ^ `` Leq Meter ''. Retrieved 2015 - 12 - 15. Timbre Colors of noise Fundamental frequency Jivari Loudness Microinflection Noise Overtone Pitch Rustle noise Sawari Spectral envelope Sympathetic string Tonality Waveform Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Loudness&oldid=830729533 '' Categories : Elements of music Acoustics Hidden categories : All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from July 2015 Articles with unsourced statements from August 2016 Wikipedia articles needing clarification from December 2015 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Català Deutsch Eesti Ελληνικά Español Français Hrvatski Italiano Қазақша Magyar Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk nynorsk Polski Português Русский Simple English Suomi Українська 中文 12 more Edit links This page was last edited on 16 March 2018, at 16 : 11. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. 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Question: what is the meaning of loudness in science
Answer: the subjective perception of sound pressure