provide a basic, objective * measurement, but they definitely do not tell the whole story.
DRIVE FAST, PLAY LOUD There’ s probably a’ 90s glam-rock shirt somewhere that says,“ Drive Fast, Play Loud.” If not, someone missed an opportunity.
Let’ s use driving to unpack loudness a bit, though. Hypothetically, I tend to accelerate from red lights a bit too quickly for my wife’ s liking.“ But I’ m only going 35!” I’ ll protest. And 35 mph isn’ t fast— if you’ re already cruising on a 45-mph city street. But going from 0 to 35 in a couple seconds? That feels fast. The immediate reference point— 0 mph— changes the experience.
In audio terms, this is like an unexpected burst of guitar feedback during a sermon. Everyone jumps, even if the peak SPL is lower than the average level during the closing worship song. I’ ll save the deeper math and science for Part Two, but this example shows how a simple dB reading leaves out key factors in perceived loudness.
HOW LOW CAN YOU GO? I have a very interesting friend named Michael Grodsky. He was my electronic music professor in college, and we’ ve been exploring noise and sonic experiments together for decades. Grodsky is known for his almost Zen-koan-like musings. I recall a conversation in which he remarked,“ Clouds are basically just really lowfrequency sound-pressure waves, aren’ t they?” Then he added, in classic Grodsky fashion,“ Basically the whole universe is just one big sound wave.” I don’ t have time to unpack that here, but it does raise another point worth considering as we talk about decibels, perception, and loudness.
Humans can hear only a limited range of frequencies because of our physical auditory apparatus. This introduces another key element in perceived loudness: frequency matters. Even if we wanted to count Grodsky’ s very slow cloud movements as“ sound,” any wave under about
10 Hz is inaudible to almost every animal you can name.( Blue whales may get down to 7 Hz, but we’ re certainly not hearing that, no matter how high the amplitude— or“ loudness”— might be.)
Conversely, frequencies that fall squarely within the core of the human hearing range can vary widely in perceived loudness, as we’ ll continue to explore throughout this article series. All of this is simply to say: the amplitude of a sound wave relates to loudness, but amplitude alone isn’ t nearly enough. Frequency— and several other factors— must be considered when we talk about perceived loudness.
TICK TOCK, TICK TOCK No, not TikTok the social app— an actual analog clock. The kind with gears and hands and all that.
Imagine you’ re in a classroom with an analog clock ticking softly in the background— maybe around 20 dB. At first, it’ s annoying.“ Someone should invent a silent clock,” you mutter. But after 15 minutes of Mr. Hawley’ s lecture, you suddenly realize the clock has been‘ silent.’ Then, as soon as you notice it, the ticking comes back.
The clock never stopped. Your sensation of the ticking stayed the same; your perception of it changed. If a clock ticks and your basilar
membrane fires, but you don’ t perceive it … well, did a tree fall?( Something’ s mixed up there, but you get the idea.)
SOUND CLEAR AS MUD? I’ ve only scratched the surface here, but hopefully I’ ve piqued your interest in perception and how we understand loudness. Some of this may seem abstract, but in Part Two next month, we’ ll turn this into practical tips for talking with congregants and band members about volume, loudness, and sensation / perception.
Maybe I’ ll even find a way to justify my driving habits. We’ ll see.
* I have to be a bit philosophically pedantic and note that my use of the term‘ objective’ is not intended to impart or evoke any particular special‘ ontological’ status to sound as an object but merely aim to contrast decibel measurement with‘ subjective’ accounts of loudness in an ordinary everyday language sense. More on this point in Part Two as well.
Jeff Hawley Jeff Hawley is the Vice President of Marketing across many US-based divisions of JAM Industries, including top musical instrument and pro audio brands. He is especially interested in all things Allen & Heath and most recently served as the Director of Marketing for Allen & Heath USA. In his‘ spare time’ Jeff is completing a PhD in Philosophy of Sound at York St John University. He also serves as the President of the British Postgraduate Philosophy Association. When he isn’ t writing WM articles or marketing up a storm, he enjoys traveling the world to present at philosophy conferences and listening to old country western songs.
108 November 2025 Subscribe for Free...