Hello, I'm a specialist in acoustics and sound perception. I'm here to help you understand how loud a sound is when it's measured in sone, a unit of loudness that's quite different from the decibel scale.

Loudness is a subjective perception of sound. It's not just about the physical properties of sound, like its amplitude or frequency, but also about how we, as humans, perceive it. The sone scale was introduced to quantify this subjective experience. It's a linear scale, which means that each step up in sone value represents a doubling of perceived loudness. This is a fundamental aspect of how our ears work; we perceive loudness on a logarithmic scale, not linearly.

The sone scale is anchored by a reference sound. Typically, a sound at 40 phons (a unit of loudness that combines frequency and intensity) is considered to be 1 sone. From there, each increase by 1 sone is perceived as a doubling of loudness. So, a sound that's 2 sones is perceived as twice as loud as a 1 sone sound, a 3 sone sound is four times as loud, and so on.

Now, let's talk about a 4-sone sound. A 4-sone sound is quite loud. To put it into perspective, a sound at 1 sone is already quite noticeable and is about as loud as a quiet conversation. Doubling that to 2 sones makes it significantly louder. Doubling again to 4 sones means the sound is perceived as being eight times louder than that quiet conversation. It's a substantial increase in perceived loudness.

It's important to note that the sone scale doesn't directly translate to decibels (dB), which is a logarithmic measure of sound pressure level. Decibels are used to measure the intensity of sound waves, but they don't account for the way humans perceive loudness. For example, a sound that's 10 dB louder than another isn't necessarily perceived as being twice as loud because our perception doesn't follow a linear scale.

The statement that a "4-sone fan will be more than four times as noisy as a 0.9 sone fan" is a bit misleading. If we were to stick strictly to the sone scale, a 4-sone sound is indeed perceived as being eight times louder than a 1 sone sound. However, the comparison to a 0.9 sone fan isn't straightforward because the sone scale doesn't work in fractions like this. The sone scale is typically used in whole numbers to represent whole doubling steps in perceived loudness.

In conclusion, a 4-sone sound is very loud and is perceived as being much louder than sounds with lower sone values. The sone scale is a useful tool for understanding how we perceive changes in loudness, but it's not a direct measure of physical sound intensity like decibels. It's a reminder that our perception of sound is complex and influenced by many factors, including the way our auditory system processes sound.

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Sones are not decibels or volume, but rather how sound is sensed. Sones are a linear measurement, like inches. Doubling the sone value is equivalent to doubling the loudness (i.e. one to two, two to four is doubling the sound level twice). Your 4-sone fan will be more than four times a noisy as a 0.9 sone fan.Mar 7, 2010read more >>