dynamic range

acoustics

Written by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last updated

June 25, 2026

Quick Summary

In acoustics, dynamic range refers to the ratio between the strongest and weakest sound intensities that a system can transmit or reproduce. The human ear has an enormous dynamic range, capable of perceiving sounds from the threshold of hearing to the threshold of pain. This range spans approximately 12 orders of magnitude in intensity.12

The ear's response to sound intensity is nonlinear, meaning it doesn't perceive changes in loudness in a strictly proportional way. This logarithmic response allows us to be sensitive to both very quiet and very loud sounds. Units like the phon and sone are used to describe perceived loudness, with the phon being related to the decibel scale at 1,000 Hz, and the sone representing subjective judgments of loudness doubling.3

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

3 Britannica Sources

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.

compact disc
Dynamic range
Dynamic range is the ratio of the loudest undistorted sound to the quietest discernible sound, expressed in decibels, that a system is capable of producing. The compact disc’s dynamic range is about 90 decibels, compared with about 70 decibels on the best phonograph discs, thus…
Read More
Dynamic range is the ratio of the loudest undistorted sound to the quietest discernible sound, expressed in decibels, that a system is capable of producing. The compact disc’s dynamic range is about 90 decibels, compared with about 70 decibels on the best phonograph discs, thus…
Read More

sound
Dynamic range of the ear
The ear has an enormous range of response, both in frequency and in intensity. The frequency range of human hearing extends over three orders of magnitude, from about 20 hertz to about 20,000 hertz, or 20 kilohertz. The minimum audible…
Read More
The ear has an enormous range of response, both in frequency and in intensity. The frequency range of human hearing extends over three orders of magnitude, from about 20 hertz to about 20,000 hertz, or 20 kilohertz. The minimum audible…
Read More

radar
Receivers
…receiver must have a large dynamic range in situations where it is necessary to detect weak signals in the presence of very large clutter echoes by recognizing the Doppler frequency shift of the desired moving targets. Dynamic range can be loosely described as the ratio of the strongest to the…
Read More
…receiver must have a large dynamic range in situations where it is necessary to detect weak signals in the presence of very large clutter echoes by recognizing the Doppler frequency shift of the desired moving targets. Dynamic range can be loosely described as the ratio of the strongest to the…
Read More