In this interactive, you can examine how your perception of loudness depends on the frequency of the tone that you're listening to.

Tips

This is best done with headphones, and we suggest setting the volume of your computer to something comfortable (not too loud or soft) to start with the reference note. That way you shouldn’t find yourself wanting to turn the overall volume up or down as you work through the different pitches.

You can use the following keyboard shortcuts to speed things along

Caution: Notes that vary in pitch can vary quite a bit in loudness. If you jump from a low pitch to a much higher pitch, you might end up hearing a painfully loud sound. To avoid this, we recommend moving up or down one note at a time (i.e. only switch to nearby notes), and when adjusting the loudness, work your way up very gradually (i.e. don't suddenly shift the slider all the way to the right).

Select a note:

{{ note.note }}

Use the drop down menu or click on a note below.

Select a loudness:

Adjust loudness until the tones match (left = quieter, right = louder)

When you're happy with the match, save your reading to the table below. If you need, you can always go back and repeat any reading.

Data Table

Note	Frequency (Hz)	Loudness (dBFS)
{{note}}	{{table[note].freq}}	{{table[note].loudness}}

If the perceived loudness of a tone were independent its frequency, then the loudness levels in the table would all be roughly the same. So, by closely examining this table, you can investigate how your perception of the loudness a note depends on its frequency.

For example, finding the lowest loudness values in the table will indicate the frequency range in which your hearing is the most sensitive. (An important caveat: because you're listening to this on specific audio hardware, it's difficult to isolate the effect of your hearing from that of your speakers/headphones.)