You’d be surprised about how loud sounds are…
Whether I’m out at a concert or near a construction site, I am always curious about the level of noise pollution. To ease my curiosities, I use a sound level meter. Note: I am not endorsing any specific meter. I happen to own a RisePro, which serves my purposes. Here is a review of some: https://bestreviews.com/best-sound-level-meters
It is important to understand that a sound level meter is not the same as a dosimeter. A dosimeter will measure sound impact over time, whereas the sound level meter is just a snapshot of the noise level at that particular moment in time.
Sound is measured in decibels noted as dB. You may also see dBA. This measurement is not linear, it is logarithmic. It is critical to understand that 80 dB is NOT double of 40 dB, it is in fact 16 times greater!
There are several other ways to measure volume level, even without a specific sound level meter device. Most of us all have access to measuring the decibel levels from Apps on our phones. Currently, I have two different apps on my phone. One is from the CDC (Center for Disease Control) NIOSH SLM (National Institute of Safety and Health). https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/noise/app.html
The other is from Eardial.
I primarily use the NIOSH sound level meter this because it can “record” the sound and then send a pdf of the noise intake.
So try measuring noise. Keep track of where decibels are loud.
Also, I recently discovered that the iPhone has a feature in the HEALTH section for noise preservation. If you go to the Health, then hearing, then in the hearing app you can look at Headphone Audio Levels, Environmental Sound levels,
Hearing in the health feature in the iPhone has many features for measuring and monitoring hearing health. Check it out!
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