A very unpleasant dinner last night at a restaurant with a reported noise level 
of 84 db – about the same as a gas engine lawn mower seated at the next table – 
raised what is probably an elementary question.  3 db is the familiar doubling 
of power, and in an audio environment is a doubling of acoustic energy, I 
understand.  However, I have read that ten db is what results in an apparent 
doubling of the sound level as we hear it.  Is the difference attributable to 
something like an AGC circuit in the human auditory system?  And as for RF 
transmitter power, does it take a ten db increase rather than 3 to effect an 
apparent doubling of audio amplitude in the ears on the other end of the QSO?  
Never mind the S meter – I mean the actual ability to hear a signal over the 
noise, or over the QRM.  Help, anyone?

Ted, KN1CBR

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