According to Stevens' definition, a loudness of 1 sone is equivalent to 40
phons (a 1
kHz tone at 40
dB SPL). The phons scale aligns with dB, not with loudness, so the sone and phon scales are not proportional. Rather, the loudness in sones is, at least very nearly, a
power law function of the signal intensity, with an exponent of 0.3. With this exponent, each 10 phon increase (or 10 dB at 1 kHz) produces almost exactly a doubling of the loudness in sones. : At frequencies other than 1 kHz, the loudness level in phons is calibrated according to the frequency response of human
hearing, via a set of
equal-loudness contours, and then the loudness level in phons is mapped to loudness in sones via the same power law. Loudness
N in sones (for
LN > 40 phon): : N = \left(10^{\frac{L_N-40}{10}}\right)^{0.30103} \approx 2^{\frac{L_N-40}{10}} or loudness level
LN in phons (for
N > 1 sone): : L_N = 40 + 10 \log_{2}(N) Corrections are needed at lower levels, near the threshold of hearing. These formulas are for single-frequency
sine waves or narrowband signals. For multi-component or broadband signals, a more elaborate loudness model is required, accounting for
critical bands. To be fully precise, a measurement in sones must be specified in terms of the optional suffix G, which means that the loudness value is calculated from frequency groups, and by one of the two suffixes D (for direct field or free field) or R (for room field or diffuse field). ==Example values==