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    ENVI

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    Phillip Ramos
    The document discusses units used to measure sound levels. It introduces the bel and decibel, which use logarithmic scales to quantify sound pressures that vary enormously, from the faintest sounds humans can hear to the sound of rocket launch. Various terms are defined, including Community Noise Equivalent Level (CNEL), which characterizes average sound over 24 hours including weightings for evening and nighttime sounds, and A-weighted decibel scales (dBA) used to assess noise exposure.

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    ENVI

    Uploaded by

    Phillip Ramos
    45 views3 pages
    The document discusses units used to measure sound levels. It introduces the bel and decibel, which use logarithmic scales to quantify sound pressures that vary enormously, from the faintest sounds humans can hear to the sound of rocket launch. Various terms are defined, including Community Noise Equivalent Level (CNEL), which characterizes average sound over 24 hours including weightings for evening and nighttime sounds, and A-weighted decibel scales (dBA) used to assess noise exposure.

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    The document discusses units used to measure sound levels. It introduces the bel and decibel, which use logarithmic scales to quantify sound pressures that vary enormously, from the faintest sounds humans can hear to the sound of rocket launch. Various terms are defined, including Community Noise Equivalent Level (CNEL), which characterizes average sound over 24 hours including weightings for evening and nighttime sounds, and A-weighted decibel scales (dBA) used to assess noise exposure.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    45 views3 pages

    ENVI

    Uploaded by

    Phillip Ramos
    The document discusses units used to measure sound levels. It introduces the bel and decibel, which use logarithmic scales to quantify sound pressures that vary enormously, from the faintest sounds humans can hear to the sound of rocket launch. Various terms are defined, including Community Noise Equivalent Level (CNEL), which characterizes average sound over 24 hours including weightings for evening and nighttime sounds, and A-weighted decibel scales (dBA) used to assess noise exposure.

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    Bels and Decibels

    Levels and the Decibel


    The sound pressure of the faintest sound that a normal healthy individual can
    hear is about 0.00002 Pa. The sound pressure produced by a Saturn rocket at liftoff
    is greater than 200 Pa. Even in scientific notation this is an astronomical range of
    numbers.
    To cope with this problem, a scale based on the logarithm of the ratios of the
    measured quantities is used. Measurement on this scale are called levels. The unit
    for these types of measurement scales is the bel, which was named after Alexander
    Graham Bell:

    L =log Q
    0

    (15-7)

    Where L1 = level, bels


    Q = measured quantity
    Q0 = reference quantity
    Log = logarithm in base 10
    A bel turns out to be a rather larger unit, so for convenience it is divided into 10
    subunits called decibels(dB). Levels in decibel are computed as follows:

    Q
    L = 10log Q
    0
    (15-8)
    The decibel does not represent any physical unit. It merely indicates that a
    logarithmic transformation has been performed.

    Community Noise Criteria


    CNEL = Community Noise Equivalent Level
    This is used to characterize average sound levels over a 24-hour period, with
    weighting factors included for evening and nightmare sound levels. Leq values for
    the evening period (7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.) are increased by 5 dB, while Leq
    values for the nightmare period (10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.) are increased by 10 dB.
    For a given set of sound measurements, the CNEL value will usually be about 1 dB
    higher than the Ldn value. In practice, CNEL and Ldn are often used
    interchangeably.
    LAeqT = Equivalent continuous sound level
    The steady state dB(A) level which would produce the same A-weighted sound
    energy over a stated period of time as a specified time varying sound.
    Ldn = 24 hour LAeqT
    LAeqT except 10dB is added to all levels measured between 2200 and 0700 hours.
    LN = dB(A) level exceeded N% of the time
    L90 is the dB(A) level exceeded 90% of the time and is commonly used to estimate
    ambient noise level.
    SEL = Sound Exposure Level
    Used to describe the amount of noise from an event such as an individual aircraft
    flyover.
    SENEL = Single Event Noise Exposure Level
    The noise exposure level of a single event measured over the time between the
    initial and final points when the noise level exceeds a predetermined threshold.
    Time Weighted Average (TWA)
    The yardstick used by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to
    measure noise levels in the workplace. It is equal to a constant sound level lasting
    eight hours that would cause the same hearing damage as the variable noises that
    a worker is actually exposed to (hearing loss, of course, occurs over long term
    exposures).

    Sound power, sound intensity and sound pressure level


    Sound Power Level. If the reference quantity (Q0) is specified, then the decibel
    takes on physical significance. For noise measurements, the reference power level
    has been established as 10-12W. Thus, sound power level may be expressed as:

    Lw = 10log 1012
    (15-9)
    Sound power level computed with Equation 15-9 are reported as decibels re: 10 -12W.
    Sound Intensity Level. For noise measurements, the reference and intensity
    (Equation 15-4) is
    10-12W m-2. Thus the sound intensity level is given as:

    I
    LI = 10log 1012
    (15-10)
    Sound Pressure Level. Because sound-measuring instruments measure the p rms,
    the sound pressure level is computed as follows:

    Lp = 10log

    p rms

    ( p rms)2

    (15-11)
    Which, after extracting the squaring term, is given as

    ( p rms)

    Lp = 20log ( p rms ) 0
    (15-12)
    The reference pressure has been established as 20 Pa (micropascals). A scale
    showing some common sound pressure levels is shown in Figure 15-3.

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