In acoustics, noise measurement is essential for assessing environmental noise from sources like aircraft noise, road traffic noise, and industrial activities. Excessive noise, defined as unwanted or damaging sound at high intensity, can cause adverse health effects including hearing loss, tinnitus, hypertension, and sleep disturbances. To combat noise pollution, interventions such as noise barriers for roadways, quieter jet engines, and improved industrial equipment are employed. Noise levels are typically measured with a sound level meter or a noise dosimeter, following relevant standards to protect health and well-being.
Audio Systems and Broadcasting
Noise measurement can also be part of a test procedure using white noise, or some other specialized form of test signal. In audio systems and broadcasting, specific methods are used to obtain subjectively valid results in order that different devices and signal paths may be compared regardless of the inconsistent spectral distribution and temporal properties of the noise that they generate. In particular, the ITU-R 468 noise weighting was devised specifically for this purpose and is widely used for professional audio and broadcast measurements.
Standards
There are a number of standards for noise measurement, each with a different goal or focus, including:
- Standard:ITU-R BS 468 widely used in Broadcasting and professional Audio.
- Standard:IEC A-weighting is widely used in Environmental Noise measurement.
- Standard:CCIR recommendation 468-4 is now maintained as ITU-R BS 468
- Standard:CCITT 0.41 refers to 'Psophometric weighting' used on telephone circuits.
- Standard:CCITT P53 is now continued as CCITT0.41
- Standard:BS 6402:1983 specifies Personal sound exposure meters.
- Standard:BS 3539:1968 specifies Sound level meters for motor vehicle noise.
- Standard:BSEN 60651 supersedes BS 5969:1981 Sound level meters
See also
- Sound power level LWA
- Audio system measurements
- Rumble measurement
- Noise (environmental)
- Noise pollution
- Noise music
- Noise dosimeter
- Equal-loudness contour
- A-weighting
- C-weighting
- Weighting filter
External links
- Noise-Planet: app to make an open source noise map of environmental noise
- Koopen: Indoor Noise Measurement Dataset
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