Bark scale

It is named after Heinrich Barkhausen, who proposed the first subjective measurements of loudness.

Above about 500 Hz this scale is more or less equal to a logarithmic frequency axis.

Since the direct measurements of the critical bands are subject to error, the values in this table have been generously rounded.

[1] In his letter "Subdivision of the Audible Frequency Range into Critical Bands", Zwicker states: "These bands have been directly measured in experiments on the threshold for complex sounds, on masking, on the perception of phase, and most often on the loudness of complex sounds.

To convert a frequency f (Hz) into Bark use: or (Traunmüller, 1990)[4] or (Wang, Sekey & Gersho, 1992)[5]