Variations in pressure, which form the basis of sound, are linear, and thus, are measured in a linear unit (Pascal, Pa ). These (or a similar unit derived from

Variations in pressure, which form the basis of sound, are linear, and thus, are measured in a linear unit (Pascal, Pa ). These (or a similar unit derived from electrical changes associated with pressure changes near a mic) are what are used for sound capture. It's awkward because we're dealing with a range from ~20 Micropascal to 100,000,000+ Micropascal in the world. Rescaling to dB, a logarithmic unit, both better mirrors how humans hear, and brings the numbers under control, 0-135dB is nicer. But at least for me, I like capturing and storing in a Pascal-ish unit, because I'd rather capture pressure linearly and convert to human-interpretable log units where needed. If nothing else, because things like waveform addition are a bit more straightforward mentally on linear scales. Folks have made other decisions in some formats, but I've never found it compelling.