Difference in the perceived loudness of sound between Chinese men and women

Abstract

Gender differences in perceived loudness have been observed between Japanese men and women in previous studies. Female participants tended to assign higher loudness scores to sounds of the same sound pressure level than did male participants. However, this difference was not clearly observed when using a ratio scale for the evaluation of loudness, such as in a magnitude estimation. To discuss factors affecting gender differences in perceived loudness, the same rating experiments used in previous studies were conducted with Chinese men and women. A rating experiment using a verbal interval scale showed that Chinese women tended to rate the same sounds as louder than did Chinese men. The gender effect was replicated in an experiment using an adjustment method that measured the limits of the sound pressure level perceived as soft or loud; women selected lower levels than did men for the highest limit of soft sounds and the lowest limit of loud sounds. These tendencies were the same as those of Japanese men and women observed in previous studies. Rating experiments adopting the methods of magnitude estimation and magnitude production for the ratio scales showed that the power exponent a in Stevens' power law was larger for female participants than for male participants under some conditions. However, the observed gender difference in the power exponent a for Chinese was not consistent, while it was not clear for Japanese. The gender difference in criteria for verbally categorizing loudness may be responsible for the gender difference in perceived loudness.