Decibels are commonly used in electronic communications to describe and compare signal levels. I’ve often heard that one dB is considered to be the smallest change that a typical person can detect by ear. I recently came across this website audiocheck.net that is set up to generate different audio tones and to do a blind test of how small of a change you can detect.
I started with testing for 6-dB and 3-dB changes. Easy Peasy. Then I tried the 1-dB test. I could detect the change in level fairly consistently but I did have to concentrate. Continuing on to the 0.5-dB change, I had a very high failure rate. It was very difficult to detect that small of a change. So I have to conclude that 1 dB is about the limit for a change I can hear.
How about you? Take the test on the website and let us know how you did.
There are many other audio tests to explore on that site, including the highest frequency you can hear, the minimum pitch change you can hear, etc. Check it out: www.audiocheck.net
73 Bob K0NR