A JOB evaluation exercise is being carried out in 20 UK trusts this month. It involves only 60 nurses and yet the results will help determine how you are paid for years to come.

An empirical equation from Riesz's classic study on difference thresholds is treated in a new manner. Reformulating the expression for the Weber fraction allows one to account for the shape of the loudness function at different frequencies. Furthermore, the emerging loudness function unifies both the commonly used power and logarithmic laws of sensation. In principle, equal loudness contours ca...