Decibel (dB)

A unit of a logarithmic scale of power or intensity called the power level or intensity level. The decibel is defined as one tenth of a bel where one bel represents a difference in level between two intensities I₁, I₀ where one is ten times greater than the other. Thus, the intensity level is the comparison of one intensity to another and may be expressed:

For instance, the difference between intensities of 10^-8 watts/m² and 10^-4 watts/m², an actual difference of 10,000 units, can be expressed as a difference of 4 bels or 40 decibels.

Because of the very large range of sound intensity which the ear can accommodate, from the loudest (1 watt/m²) to the quietest (10^-12 watts/m²), it is convenient to express these values as a function of powers of 10. This entire range of intensities can be expressed on a scale of 120 dB. (The physicist Alexander Wood once compared this range from loudest to quietest to the energy received from a 50 watt bulb situated in London, ranging from close by to that received by someone in New York.) See: Dynamic Range.

The result of this logarithmic basis for the scale is that increasing a sound intensity by a factor of 10 raises its level by 10 dB; increasing it by a factor of 100 raises its level by 20 dB; by 1,000, 30 dB and so on. When two sound sources of equal intensity or power are measured together, their combined intensity level is 3 dB higher than the level of either separately. Thus, two 70 dB cars together measure 73 dB under ideal conditions. However, note that when the amplitude of a single sound is doubled, its level rises 6 dB.

0 dB is defined as the threshold of hearing, and it is with reference to this internationally agreed upon quantity that decibel measurements are made. In some situations, such as tape recording, a given intensity level is assigned 0 dB, and other levels are measured in negative decibels in comparison to it.

See: Audiogram, Level Recorder, VU Meter, Zero Level VU. See also: Hearing Level, Loudness Level, Sound Level, Sound Power Level, Sound Pressure Level.

Decibels may be qualified as dBA, dBB, dBC, indicating the weighting network of the Sound Level Meter with which the measurement was made. The term became accepted in the 1920s and since then noise measurement has generally come to rely on the decibel scale and others derived from it.

See: Noise, Noise Level, Noise Rating, Noise & Number Index, Perceived Noise Level, Traffic Noise Index. Compare: Equivalent Energy Level.

These newer systems have brought environmental factors and frequency content to bear on the measurement of loudness. The phon scale attempts to account for the subjective response of the ear to loudness, which is not possible with the decibel measurement of intensity. See also: Equal Loudness Contours.

See inverse-square law for variation of decibel measurement with distance, and Sound Pressure Level for scale according to which decibel measurements may be combined. Appendix D gives a conversion chart of voltage and power ratios to decibels.

Typical average decibel levels (dBA) of some common sounds.