Sound power level
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Nyquist Team
When buying a vacuum cleaner or heat pump, we often rely on the label with the number of decibels, but we rarely consider what it actually means. The sound power level is one of the most important parameters of devices, often confused with sound pressure, even though it describes a completely different physical property of the sound source.
Professional Definition
a quantity defined according to a formula in which:
This formula takes the form: L_W = 10 log (W / W_0), where W is the total acoustic power emitted by the source (in watts), and W_0 is the reference power (typically 1 picowatt, or 10^-12 W). The level of acoustic power is an inherent parameter of the source – it does not depend on the distance from the device or the room in which it is located. It specifies the total acoustic energy radiated by the source over a unit of time.
Acoustics in Simple Words
The best analogy is a light bulb. A 100-watt light bulb (this corresponds to the acoustic power level) always emits the same amount of energy, regardless of where you screw it in. However, the brightness of the light that reaches your book (this corresponds to the acoustic pressure) depends on how far you sit from the bulb and whether the walls are light (reflecting light) or dark. Thus, the level of acoustic power tells us how loud the “machine” itself is, not how loud it will be in your room.
Summary
The level of acoustic power is an objective measure of the energy emitted by a device, independent of environmental conditions. It is a key parameter when comparing the noisiness of machines, as it allows for the assessment of the noise source itself, eliminating the influence of room acoustics or measurement distance.
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