Loudness-thermometer: evidence for cognitive effects?

ABSTRACT To illustrate for a broad public acoustic magnitudes, level-thermometers can be used which show e.g. on the lower end whispering leaves and on the upper end a jet aircraft. When using instead a loudness-thermometer, the sequence of sounds sometimes can be reversed compared to a level-thermometer. From an engineering point of view, these differences frequently can be traced back to differences in the spectral distribution. However, also some cognitive effects might play a role, e.g. that musical sounds are preferred in comparison to technical sounds.