The phon is a logarithmic unit of loudness level for tones and complex sounds. Loudness is measured in sones, a linear unit.

phon, unit of loudness level. The loudness level of a sound is a subjective, rather than an objective, measure. To measure loudness, the volume of a 1,000-hertz reference tone is adjusted until it is perceived by listeners to be equally as loud as the sound being measured.

The meaning of PHON is the unit of loudness on a scale beginning at zero for the faintest audible sound and corresponding to the decibel scale of sound intensity with the number of phons of a given sound being equal to the decibels of a pure 1000-hertz tone judged by the average listener to be equal in loudness to the given sound.

a unit for measuring the apparent loudness of a sound, equal in number for a given sound to the intensity in decibels of a sound having a frequency of 1000 cycles per second when, in the …

3 senses: a unit of loudness that measures the intensity of a sound by the number of decibels it is above a reference tone.... Click for more definitions.

Define phon. phon synonyms, phon pronunciation, phon translation, English dictionary definition of phon. n. A unit of apparent loudness, equal in number to the intensity in decibels of a 1,000-hertz tone perceived to be as loud as the sound being measured....

Phon definition: A measure of the apparent loudness level of a sound with respect to a 1,000-cycle-per-second pure tone: based on the subjective judgment of the human ear or on objective comparisons of acoustical measurements.

The use of the phon as a unit of loudness is an improvement over just quoting the level in decibels, but it is still not a measurement which is directly proportional to loudness. Using the rule of thumb for loudness, the sone scale was created to provide such a linear scale of loudness.

The unit on the subjective scale of equivalent loudness, proposed by Barkhausen and adopted by the First International Acoustical Conference (Paris, July 1937).¹ One phon is the loudness level of a sound wave which is judged by a person with normal hearing, under standard listening conditions, to have the same loudness as a sound wave having a ...

A phon is a unit of perceived loudness level for pure tones. It is numerically equal to the sound pressure level in decibels (dB) of a 1 kHz tone that is perceived as equally loud.