Basic Acoustics FAQ's   2.1 What is sound? 2.2 What is a decibel (dB)? 2.3 How is sound measured? 2.4 What does dB(A) or "A-Weighted" mean? 2.5 How do sound levels add? 2.6 How does the ear work? 2.7 At what level does sound become unsafe? 2.8 What is meant by loudness?   2.1 What is sound? Sound is the quickly varying pressure wave within a medium. We usually mean audible sound, which is the sensation (as detected by the ear) of very small rapid changes in the air pressure above and below a static value. This "static" value is atmospheric pressure (about 100,000 Pascals) which does nevertheless vary slowly, as shown on a barometer. Associated with the sound pressure wave is a flow of energy. Sound is often represented diagrammatically as a sine wave, but physically sound (in air) is a longitudinal wave where the wave motion is in the direction of the movement of energy. The wave crests can be considered as the pressure maxima whilst the troughs represent the pressure minima. How small and rapid are the changes of air pressure which cause sound? When the rapid variations in pressure occur between about 20 and 20,000 times per second (i.e. at a frequency between 20Hz and 20kHz) sound is potentially audible even though the pressure variation can sometimes be as low as only a few tens of millionths of a Pascal. Movements of the ear drum as small as the diameter of a hydrogen atom can be audible! Louder sounds are caused by greater variation in pressure. A sound wave of one Pascal amplitude, for example, will sound quite loud, provided that most of the acoustic energy is in the mid-frequencies (1kHz - 4kHz) where the human ear is most sensitive. It is commonly accepted that the threshold of human hearing for a 1 kHz sound wave is about 20 micro-Pascals. What makes sound? Sound is produced when the air is disturbed in some way, for example by a vibrating object. A speaker cone from a high fidelity system serves as a good illustration. It may be possible to see the movement of a bass speaker cone, providing it is producing very low frequency sound. As the cone moves forward the air immediately in front is compressed causing a slight increase in air pressure, it then moves back past its rest position and causes a reduction in the air pressure (rarefaction). The process continues so that a wave of alternating high and low pressure is radiated away from the speaker cone at the speed of sound. Top of page   2.2 What is a decibel (dB)? The decibel is a logarithmic unit which is used in a number of scientific disciplines. Other examples are the Richter scale for earthquake event energy and pH for hydrogen ion concentration in liquids. In all cases the logarithmic measure is used to compare the quantity of interest with a reference value, often the smallest likely value of the quantity. Sometimes it can be an approximate average value. In acoustics the decibel is most often used to compare sound pressure, in air, with a reference pressure. References for sound intensity, sound power and sound pressure in water are amongst others which are also commonly in use. Reference sound pressure (in air) = 0.00002 = 2E-5 Pa (rms) " " intensity = 0.000000000001 = 1E-12 W/m^2 " " power = 0.000000000001 = 1E-12 W " " pressure (water) = 0.000001 = 1E-6 Pa Acousticians use the dB scale for the following reasons: 1) Quantities of interest often exhibit such huge ranges of variation that a dB scale is more convenient than a linear scale. For example, sound pressure radiated by a submarine may vary by eight orders of magnitude depending on direction. 2) The human ear interprets loudness more easily interpreted with a logarithmic scale than with a linear scale. Top of page   2.3 How is sound measured? A sound level meter is the principal instrument for general noise measurement. The indication on a sound level meter (aside from weighting considerations) indicates the sound pressure, p, as a level referenced to 0.00002 Pa, calibrated on a decibel scale. Sound Pressure Level = 20 x lg (p/0.00002) dB Often, the "maximum" level and sometimes the "peak" level of the sound being measured is quoted. During any given time interval the peak level will be numerically greater than the maximum level and the maximum level will be numerically greater than the (rms) sound pressure level; peak>max>rms. Top of page   2.4 What does dB(A) or "A-Weighted" mean? C-Weighted? A sound level meter that measures the sound pressure level with a "flat" response will indicate the strength of low frequency sound with the same emphasis as higher frequency sounds. Yet our ear perceives low frequency sound to be of less loudness that higher frequency sound. The eardrum- stapes-circular window system behaves like a mechanical transformer with a finite pass band. In EE parlance, the "3 dB" rollover frequencies are approximately 500 Hz on the low end and 8 kHz on the high end. By using an electronic filter of attenuation equal to that apparently offered by the human ear for sound each frequency (the 40-phon response curve), the sound level meter will now report a numerical value proportional to the human perception of the strength of that sound independent of frequency. Section 8.2 shows a table of these weightings. Unfortunately, human perception of loudness vis-a-vis frequency changes with loudness. When sound is very loud - 100 dB or more, the perception of loudness is more consistent across the audible frequency band. "B" and "C" Weightings reflect this trend. "B" Weighting is now little-used, but C-Weighting has achieved prominence in evaluating annoying community noises such as low frequency sound emitted by artillery fire and outdoor rock concerts. C-Weighting is also tabulated in 8.2. The first electrical sound meter was reported by George W Pierce in Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, v 43 (1907-8) A couple of decades later the switch from horse-drawn vehicles to automobiles in cities led to large changes in the background noise climate. The advent of "talkies" - film sound - was a big stimulus to sound meter patents of the time, but there was still no standard method of sound measurement. "Noise" (unwanted sound) became a public issue. The first tentative standard for sound level meters (Z24.3) was published by the American Standards Association in 1936, sponsored by the Acoustical Society of America. The tentative standard shows two frequency weighting curves "A" and "B" which were modeled on the response of the human ear to low and high levels of sound respectively. With the coming of the Walsh-Healy act in 1969, the A-Weighting of sound was defacto presumed to be the "appropriate" weighting to represent sound level as a single number (rather than as a spectrum). With the advent of US FAA and US EPA interests in the '70's, the dBA metric was also adapted by them, and with the associated shortfall in precision. [Editor's Note: A single number metric such as dBA is more easily understood by legal and administrative officials, so that promulgation, enforcement and administrative criteria and actions are understandable by more parties, often at the expense of a more precise comprehension and engineering action capability. For instance, enforcement may be on a dBA basis, but noise control design demands the octave-band or even third-octave band spectral data metric.] The most commonly referenced weighting is "A-Weighting" dB(A), which is similar to that originally defined as Curve "A" in the 1936 standard. "C-Weighting" dB(C), which is used occasionally, has a relatively flat response. ""U-Weighting"" is a recent weighting which is used for measuring audible sound in the presence of ultrasound, and can be combined with A-Weighting to give AU-Weighting. The A-Weighting formula is given in section 8 of this FAQ file. In addition to frequency weighting, sound pressure can be weighted in time with fast, slow or impulse response. Measurements of sound pressure level with A-Weighting and fast response are also known as the "sound level". Many modern sound level meters can measure the average sound energy over a given time. this metric is called the "equivalent continuous sound level" (L sub eq). More recently, it has become customary to presume that this sound measurement was A-Weighted if no weighting descriptor is listed. Top of page   2.5 How are decibel sound levels added? If there are two uncorrelated sound sources in a room - for example a radio producing an average sound level of 62.0 dB, and a television producing a sound level of 73.0 dB - then the total decibel sound level is a logarithmic sum i.e. Combined sound level = 10 x lg ( 10^(62/10) + 10^(73/10) ) = 73.3 dB Note: for two different sounds, the combined level cannot be more than 3 dB above the higher of the two sound levels. However, if the sounds are phase related ("correlated") there can be up to a 6dB increase in SPL. Top of page   2.6 How does the ear work? The eardrum is connected by three small jointed bones in the air-filled middle ear to the oval window of the inner ear or cochlea, a fluid- filled spiral shell about one and a half inches in length. Over 10,000 hair cells on the basilar membrane along the cochlea convert minuscule movements to nerve impulses, which are transmitted by the auditory nerve to the hearing center of the brain. The basilar membrane is wider at its apex than at its base near the oval window; the cochlea tapers towards its apex. Groups of the delicate hair sensors on the membrane, which membrane varies in stiffness along its length, respond to different frequencies transmitted down the spiral. The hair sensors are one of the few cell types in the body which do not regenerate. They can therefore be irreparably damaged by large noise doses. Refer to the Tinnitus FAQ for more information on associated hearing disorders. (Top of Page)   2.7 At what level does sound become unsafe? It is strongly recommended, to avoid unprotected exposure to sound pressure levels above 100dBA. Use hearing protection when exposed to levels above 85dBA (about the sound level of a lawn mower when you are pushing is over a grassy surface), and especially when prolonged exposure (more than a fraction of an hour) is expected. Damage to hearing from loud noise is cumulative and is irreversible. Exposure to high noise levels is also one of the main causes of tinnitus. The safety aspects of ultrasound scans are the subject of ongoing investigation. Health hazards also result from extended exposure to vibration. An example is "white finger", which is found amongst workers who use hand-held machinery such as chain saws. Top of page   2.8 What is meant by loudness? Loudness is the human impression of the strength of a sound. The loudness of a noise does not necessarily correlate with its sound level. Loudness level of any sound, in phons, is the decibel level of an equally loud 1kHz tone, heard binaurally by an otologically normal listener. Historically, it was with a little reluctance that a simple frequency weighting "sound level meter" was accepted as giving a satisfactory approximation to loudness. The ear senses noise on a different basis than simple energy summation, and this can lead to discrepancy between the loudness of certain repetitive sounds and their sound level. A 10dB sound level increase is perceived to be about "twice as loud" in many cases. The sone is a unit of comparative loudness with 0.5 sone = 30 phons,   1 sone = 40 phons,  2 sones = 50 phons,  4 sones = 60 phons etc. The sone is inappropriate at very low and high sound levels where human subjective perception does not follow the 10dB rule. Loudness level calculations take account of "masking" - the process by which the audibility of one sound is reduced due to the presence of another at a close frequency. The redundancy principles of masking are applied in digital audio broadcasting (DAB), leading to a considerable saving in bandwidth with no perceptible loss in quality.        Top of page   Contact an All Tech Industries engineer today (989-826-9999) for a deeper discussion about your specific acoustic requirements.