
Average sound pressure level
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Nyquist Team
In acoustics, mathematics can be misleading – adding two noise sources at 50 dB does not result in 100 dB, and averaging measurements does not simply involve adding and dividing. The average sound pressure level is a parameter that requires an understanding of the nature of logarithms to accurately assess actual noise exposure in a room or work environment.
Professional Definition
The average sound pressure level is a quantity determined by a formula that takes into account the averaging of the squares of sound pressure (energy averaging) over a specified time or space, and then logarithmically transforms the result.
It is not the arithmetic mean of the values in decibels. To correctly calculate this parameter, one must convert dB values to pressure (Pascals) or energy, average them, and then convert them back to decibels. This is crucial because the decibel is a logarithmic unit – instantaneous, very loud impulses have disproportionately large effects on the overall average energy of the measurement.
Acoustics in Simple Words
Imagine you want to calculate the average temperature of water in a pool. If you pour a cup of boiling water into it, the temperature barely budges. But in acoustics, it works differently – loud sounds are not like a cup of boiling water, but more like a tanker of lava.
If you sit in silence for an hour, and once a minute someone fires a cannon next to you, your ears will not say it was
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