Originally Posted by AudioTrack
To the O/P, it is important to understand that sound levels are heard by humans on a logarithmic scale.
The decibel unit is the 'intensity' of the sound.
In practice, increasing a sound level by 10db will actually make it twice as loud as it was previously.
Reducing a sound level by 10db will halve the intensity of the sound.
Leaving -3.0db 'headroom' is somewhat of an 'industry standard' to allow for fine adjustments (filters, compressors, etc) without compromising the overall sound level.
Technically that isn't really correct for all sorts of reasons.

I think what you're saying is that an increase of 10dB makes the sound subjectively twice as loud, or reducing it 10dB make is subjectively half as loud.

A decibel has a specific definition, which is somewhat different from that. An actual "twice the level" is only +3dB and, as you indicate, it doesn't sound twice as loud.

Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful.
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