Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Hearing

I was discussing linear amplifiers being linear on another board and one of the participants mentioned that amps sound different at different power levels. He wasn't talking about the linearity of the amp, but the response of the human ear. He then posted the following link;

Equal loudness curves:
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/sound/eqloud.html

I think that we all realized that the ears response changes as a function of frequency, but, I did not realize that it also changed as a function of sound intensity. Look at the curves at both the top and bottom of the audio spectrum.

I suspect that these are generalized curves and everyones may be a little bit different. Possibly major differences occur if there is some hearing impairment.

Wow, something else to think about when discussing audio equipment.