Article
Article
Loudness
Article By:
Marks, Lawrence E. The John B. Pierce Laboratory, New Haven, Connecticut.
Last reviewed:September 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.390000
Show previous versions
- Loudness, published January 2020:Download PDF
Get Adobe Acrobat Reader
The perceptual intensity of sound. Loudness depends importantly on the physical intensity of sound, increasing when physical intensity increases and decreasing when physical intensity decreases. In addition, loudness depends on other physical properties of sound, such as frequency and duration (Fig. 1). Sound waves with frequencies between 1000 and 5000 Hz are perceived as louder than sound waves that have the same intensity but lower or higher frequencies. Very brief bursts of sound are less loud than are longer bursts, with loudness increasing regularly as duration increases up to about 0.1–0.2 s, beyond which point in time, loudness no longer increases with increasing duration. See also: Frequency (wave motion); Frequency measurement; Sound
The content above is only an excerpt.
About AccessScience
AccessScience provides the most accurate and trustworthy scientific information available.
Recognized as an award-winning gateway to scientific knowledge, AccessScience is an amazing online resource that contains high-quality reference material written specifically for students. Contributors include more than 10,000 highly qualified scientists and 46 Nobel Prize winners.
MORE THAN 8700 articles covering all major scientific disciplines and encompassing the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology and McGraw-Hill Yearbook of Science & Technology
115,000-PLUS definitions from the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms
3000 biographies of notable scientific figures
MORE THAN 19,000 downloadable images and animations illustrating key topics
ENGAGING VIDEOS highlighting the life and work of award-winning scientists
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY and additional readings to guide students to deeper understanding and research
LINKS TO CITABLE LITERATURE help students expand their knowledge using primary sources of information
