Psychophysical scaling

Psychophysical scaling is a method used to understand how people perceive and rate the intensity of sensations, such as brightness, loudness, or taste. It involves systematically measuring the relationship between physical stimuli (like a sound’s volume) and the subjective experience they evoke. By doing so, researchers can develop scales that quantify perception, revealing how changes in stimuli are related to changes in perception. For example, it helps determine how much louder one sound needs to be for it to seem twice as loud to a listener. This approach bridges the gap between physical measurements and human sensory experience.