Engineering ToolBox - Resources, Tools and Basic Information for Engineering and Design of Technical Applications!

This is an AMP page - Open full page! for all features.

Sound Intensity, Power and Pressure Levels

Introduction to decibel, sound power, intensity and pressure.

Sponsored Links

The Decibel

Decibel is a logarithmic unit used to describe ratios of physical values like - like power, sound pressure, voltage, intensity and more.

The decibel can be expressed as:

L = 10 log (S / Sref)                                        (1)

where 

L = signal level (dB)

S = signal (signal unit)

Sref = signal reference (signal unit) 

The Decibel Scale

Sound Power Level

Sound power is the energy rate - the energy of sound per unit of time (J/s, W in SI-units) from a sound source.

Sound power can more practically be expressed in a logarithmic scale named Sound Power Level as the ratio of sound power to the sound power at the threshold of hearing - 10-12 W: 

LN = 10 log (N / Nref)                                   (2)

where 

LN = Sound Power Level (decibel , dB)

N = sound power (W)

Nref = reference sound power (10-12 W)

  • The lowest sound power persons with excellent hearing can discern is about 10-12 W -  defined as 0 dB in the decibel scale
  • The loudest sound power generally possible to encounter is that of a jet aircraft with a sound power of 105 W - 170 dB

Sound Intensity Level

Sound intensity is the ratio acoustic or sound power to area. The SI-unit for Sound Intensity is W/m2

The Sound Intensity Level can be expressed as: 

LI = 10 log (I / Iref)                                (3)

where 

LI = sound intensity level (dB)

I = sound intensity (W/m2)

Iref = 10-12 - reference sound intensity (W/m2

Sound Pressure Level

The sound pressure is the force (N) of a sound on a surface area (m2) perpendicular to the direction of the sound. The SI-unit for the Sound Pressure is N/m2 or Pa.

The Sound Pressure Level in decibel can be expressed as

Lp = 10 log (p2 / pref2)

    = 10 log (p / pref)2 

    = 20 log (p / pref)                                  (4)

where

Lp = sound pressure level (dB)

p = sound pressure (Pa)

pref = 2 10-5 - reference sound pressure (Pa)

  • If the pressure is doubled the sound pressure level is increased with 6 dB (20 log (2))
Sponsored Links

Related Topics

Related Documents

Sponsored Links

Share

Search Engineering ToolBox

  • the most efficient way to navigate the Engineering ToolBox!

SketchUp Extension - Online 3D modeling!

Add standard and customized parametric components - like flange beams, lumbers, piping, stairs and more - to your Sketchup model with the Engineering ToolBox - SketchUp Extension - enabled for use with the amazing, fun and free SketchUp Make and SketchUp Pro . Add the Engineering ToolBox extension to your SketchUp from the Sketchup Extension Warehouse!

Privacy

We don't collect information from our users. Only emails and answers are saved in our archive. Cookies are only used in the browser to improve user experience.

Some of our calculators and applications let you save application data to your local computer. These applications will - due to browser restrictions - send data between your browser and our server. We don't save this data.

Google use cookies for serving our ads and handling visitor statistics. Please read Google Privacy & Terms for more information about how you can control adserving and the information collected.

AddThis use cookies for handling links to social media. Please read AddThis Privacy for more information.

Topics

Unit Converters

Temperature

oC
oF


Load Calculator!

Length

m
km
in
ft
yards
miles
naut miles


Load Calculator!

Area

m2
km2
in2
ft2
miles2
acres


Load Calculator!

Volume

m3
liters
in3
ft3
us gal


Load Calculator!

Weight

kgf
N
lbf


Load Calculator!

Velocity

m/s
km/h
ft/min
ft/s
mph
knots


Load Calculator!

Pressure

Pa (N/m2)
bar
mm H2O
kg/cm2
psi
inches H2O


Load Calculator!

Flow

m3/s
m3/h
US gpm
cfm


Load Calculator!

3 10

This website use cookies. By continuing to browse you are agreeing to our use of cookies! Learn more