This is considered a comfortable sound level for most people.

40 dB: A quiet residential area or a quiet office.

These are still very quiet sounds that would not interfere with concentration. This level of sound is barely audible to most people. 10 dB: A light breath or rustling leaves.To better understand the decibel scale, here are some common sounds and their typical decibel levels: It’s important to remember that these comparisons can vary from person to person due to individual differences in hearing ability. It’s more audible than the softest sounds our ears can detect (0 dB) but still quite mild. To give you a practical idea, a sound that measures 20 decibels (dB) on the decibel scale is relatively quiet, akin to the rustling of leaves in a slight breeze or the gentle whisper of someone nearby. It’s worth noting that as decibels are a relative measure, the readings are typically compared to a reference level, which is usually the quietest sound that the average human ear can hear (0 dB). The measurement is often taken several times and averaged to ensure accuracy. The measurement process involves capturing the sound with the microphone, converting the sound waves into electrical signals, and then using a logarithmic formula to convert this into a reading on the decibel scale. These devices consist of a microphone to capture sound, a converter to transform the sound into electrical signals, and a display to show the measurement in decibels. How Are Decibels Measured?ĭecibels are measured using sound level meters, devices that capture the intensity of a sound at a given moment. In essence, the decibel scale enables us to measure a vast range of sound intensities in a way that reflects how we actually perceive sound. To illustrate, a 20 dB sound is 10 times more intense than a 10 dB sound, and a 30 dB sound is 100 times more intense than a 10 dB sound.įurthermore, an increase of about 3 dB is typically perceived by the human ear as a doubling of the sound intensity, while a 10 dB increase is perceived as a doubling of the loudness. Each increment of 10 dB on the scale represents a tenfold increase in the intensity of the sound. Understanding the decibel scale involves acknowledging the logarithmic nature of the scale. In essence, the decibel scale allows us to comprehend and compare the vast range of sound intensities our ears can detect, from the quietest whisper to the roar of a jet engine. This scale is a convenient tool because it can represent very large or small values in a manageable format.įor instance, our human ears can perceive sounds that range over twelve orders of magnitude in pressure changes – a task daunting to comprehend if we didn’t have the decibel scale.

The decibel scale is a logarithmic scale used to quantify the intensity of a sound or the power level of an electrical signal by comparing it to a given level on a logarithmic scale. In the case of decibels, the logarithmic scale allows us to represent the vast range of human hearing, from the quietest whisper to the roar of a jet engine, in a compact and manageable way. This type of scale is extremely useful when the values to be plotted cover a large range. Unlike the linear scale, where equal distances reflect equal changes in quantity, a logarithmic scale shows that equal distances reflect equal ratios of change rather than equal differences in quantities. What Is A Logarithmic Scale?īefore answering what the decibel scale is, it is important to understand what a logarithmic scale is.Ī logarithmic scale, often just referred to as a log scale, is a way of displaying numerical data over a very wide range of values in a compact way. In the realm of sound, this reference level is typically the standard threshold of hearing for the average human ear, often denoted as 0 dB. Being a relative unit of measure, decibels compare the level of an observed quantity to a reference level. The prefix ‘deci-‘ denotes a tenth part, making a decibel one-tenth of a bel. The term ‘decibel’ is derived from ‘bel,’ named in honour of Alexander Graham Bell, a prominent inventor and scientist known for his work in telecommunication. Decibels, often abbreviated as dB, are a logarithmic unit of measurement used to express the ratio of two values of a physical quantity, most commonly in acoustics for sound.

Decibel a scale