Using magnitude estimation to teach about loudness
Bertram Scharf, Rhona P. Hellman · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1975
We have used Stevens' method of magnitude estimation in a number of classes and with individual observers to obtain estimates of the loudness of pure tones. These unpracticed observers give results that mimic the tone scale: They agree that approximately a 10-dB change in sound pressure corresponds to a twofold change in loudness. Such results convince the student of the distinction between loudness, a subjective magnitude, and intensity, a stimulus magnitude. Moreover, the consistency across groups of listeners means that untrained people are able to judge loudness ratios directly. It would then be appropriate and more informative to tell consumers about the loudness or noisiness of products by giving the relative positions of products on a true number scale of loudness, rather than by giving the positions of products on a logarithmic scale of acoustical output.