Outdoor Ambient Sound Levels in Decibel
Outdoor ambient sound level in different rural and urban business and industrial environments with or without limited traffic.
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In residential areas, most noise comes from transportation, construction, industrial, and human and animal sources. Road traffic noise is the leading source of community noise.
The noise can be highly variable. It is common that Day-Night sound levels - Ldn - in different areas varies over a range of 50 dB. The outdoor level in a wilderness area may occur as low as Ldn 30 to 40 dBA, and as high as Ldn 85-90 dBA in a urban area. Most urban dwellers lives in areas of Ldn more than 48 dBA.
The table below indicates common outdoor sound pressure levels in rural and urban environments at different octave band.
| Conditions | Octave Band Center Frequency (Hz) | ||||||||
| 63 | 125 | 250 | 500 | 1000 | 2000 | 4000 | 8000 | ||
| Night-time | |||||||||
| Rural, no nearby traffic of concern | 42 | 37 | 32 | 27 | 22 | 18 | 14 | 12 | |
| Suburban, no nearby traffic of concern | 47 | 42 | 37 | 32 | 27 | 23 | 19 | 17 | |
| Urban, no nearby traffic of concern | 52 | 47 | 42 | 37 | 32 | 28 | 24 | 22 | |
| Business or commercial area | 57 | 52 | 47 | 42 | 37 | 33 | 29 | 27 | |
| Daytime | |||||||||
| Business or commercial area | 62 | 57 | 52 | 47 | 42 | 38 | 34 | 32 | |
| Industrial or manufacturing area | 67 | 62 | 57 | 52 | 47 | 43 | 39 | 37 | |
| Within 300 ft (91 m) of continuous heavy traffic | 72 | 67 | 62 | 57 | 52 | 48 | 44 | 42 | |
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