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Why Decibels Don’t Equal Loudness
🕑 Added 2022-09-15 03:09:36 +0000 UTCWe often use decibels, a measure of sound pressure, to describe how loud something is - but loudness is caused by how we perceive sounds, and the two often don't line up. In our latest video we explain this and you can watch it before everyone else here: https://youtu.be/zAn5b6UpPpI
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- Ever
Comments
MinuteEarth
There is no official 0-100 ear-hurt scale as far as I know, but there are weightings for decibels that try to take into account our sensitivity to different frequencies. dB(A) is what's usually used when it comes to hearing damage. (The allowed noise levels in factories for example). There are also metrics like LUFS that are used to make sure that different songs on the radio are perceived equally loud. Phons and Sones should probably also be mentioned, but to be perfectly honest, I rarely encounter them in the real world. - Aldo
Gaëtan Perrault
So, is there some name for the combined frequency + decibels effect? Like, is there an alternate measurement for "how much will this hurt my ears"? Where 0 doesn't hurt my ears and 100 is a banshee?
