Editing Mel scale (section)

{{Short description|Conceptual scale}}
[[Image:Mel-Hz_plot.svg|right|thumb|450px|Plots of pitch mel scale versus hertz scale]]
[[Image:A440.png|thumb|A440 {{audio|A440.mid|Play}}. 440 Hz = 549.64 mels]]

The '''mel scale''' (after the word  ''[[melody]]'')<ref name=stevens1937>
{{cite journal
 |journal         = Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
 |title           = A scale for the measurement of the psychological magnitude pitch
 |author1         = Stevens, Stanley Smith
 |author2         = Volkmann
 |author3         = John
 |author4         = Newman, Edwin B.
 |volume          = 8
 |issue           = 3
 |pages           = 185–190
 |year            = 1937
 |url             = http://asadl.org/jasa/resource/1/jasman/v8/i3/p185_s1
 |bibcode         = 1937ASAJ....8..185S
 |doi             = 10.1121/1.1915893
 |url-status      = dead
 |archive-url     = https://archive.today/20130414065947/http://asadl.org/jasa/resource/1/jasman/v8/i3/p185_s1
 |archive-date    = 2013-04-14
|url-access= subscription
 }}</ref> is a perceptual scale of [[pitch (music)|pitch]]es judged by listeners to be equal in distance from one another. The reference point between this scale and normal [[frequency]] measurement is defined by assigning a perceptual pitch of 1000 mels to a 1000&nbsp;[[Hertz|Hz]] tone, 40&nbsp;[[decibel|dB]] above the listener's threshold. Above about 500&nbsp;Hz, increasingly large [[interval (music)|interval]]s are judged by listeners to produce equal pitch increments.