Why Decibels Don’t Equal Loudness (Patreon)

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Learn to use your career to make a difference at https://www.80000hours.org/minuteearth We 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. LEARN MORE ************** To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: - Decibels (dB): a unit used to measure changes in pressure or power. - Loudness: the intensity with which a sound is perceived. - Weighted decibels (dBA): decibels that try to take into account our sensitivity for different frequencies to better approximate loudness. - Frequency: the rate at which something occurs. In the context of sound it usually means 'sound waves per second'. - Audible: perceptible for the human ear. - High sound: a sound that has a high (fast) frequency - Low sound: a sound that has a low (slow) frequency - Resonance: When multiple things have a similar frequency they will tend to move together and amplify each other. - Echolocation: Using sound to "see". Bats use this to hunt in the dark. - Equal loudness contours: Curves that show the sensitivity of the human ear along the frequency spectrum. SUPPORT MINUTEEARTH ************************** If you like what we do, you can help us!: - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Share this video with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) CREDITS ********* Aldo de Vos | Script Writing, Illustration, Animation, and Music Kate Yoshida | Script Editor Cameron Duke | Director and Narrator MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info OUR STAFF ************ Lizah van der Aart • Sarah Berman • Cameron Duke Arcadi Garcia i Rius • David Goldenberg • Melissa Hayes Alex Reich • Henry Reich • Peter Reich Ever Salazar • Leonardo Souza • Kate Yoshida OUR LINKS ************ Youtube | https://youtube.com/MinuteEarth TikTok | https://tiktok.com/@minuteearth Twitter | https://twitter.com/MinuteEarth Instagram | https://instagram.com/minute_earth Facebook | https://facebook.com/Minuteearth Website | https://minuteearth.com Apple Podcasts| https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/minuteearth/id649211176 REFERENCES ************** Hawkins, Joseph E. “Human Ear | Structure, Function, & Parts.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 25 Oct. 2018, www.britannica.com/science/ear.Suzuki, Yôiti, and Hisashi Takeshima. “Equal-Loudness-Level Contours for Pure Tones.” The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 116, no. 2, Aug. 2004, pp. 918–933, 10.1121/1.1763601. Tosi, Patrizia, et al. “Earthquake Sound Perception.” Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 39, no. 24, 19 Dec. 2012, 10.1029/2012gl054382.