Decibel

Sound Pressure Level

Ex. 1)P = 5 Pa

= 20

5
= 20
2 105
= 20 ( 2.5 + 105 )
= 108

2) Lp = 38 dB

38 = 20
2 105

1.9 =
2 105

101.9 =
2 105
= 2 105 101.9 = 2 103.1

10 () = 10
10 (()) =
1 2
= 10 log(1010 + 1010 + + 1010 )
50 + 53
1 2
= 10 log(1010 + 1010 )
50 53
= 10 log(1010 + 1010 )
= 54.764

ADD
01 3
23 2
49 1
10 0
50 and 53 -> 55 (add 2)
55 and 45 -> 55 (add 0)

+ 10
(1)

20 Speakers
Level from 1 is 35 dB
20
35 + 10 log ( ) = 35 + 13 = 48
1

October 2, 2014

31.5 Hz 63 Hz 125 Hz 250 Hz 500 Hz 1 KHz 2 KHz 4 KHz

56 dB 48 dB 44 dB 39 dB 37 dB 34 dB 31 dB 23 dB

57 45 39 32

57 40

57
31.5 Hz 63 Hz 125 Hz 250 Hz 500 Hz 1 KHz 2 KHz 4 KHz
56 dB 48 dB 44 dB 39 dB 37 dB 34 dB 31 dB 23 dB
-39 -26 -16 -4 -3 0 +1 +1
17 22 28 30 34 34 31 24

23 45 39 32

57 40

57 dBA (A-weighted)

=
4 2

I : Intensity (2)
P : Power (w)

1 22
=
2 12

1 22 2
10 log ( ) = 10 log ( 2 ) = 20 log ( )
2 1 1
NOISE REDUCTION

2
= 20 log ( )
1
= 1 2

Ex.
r1 = 3 m; r2=50m
L1 = 87 dbA; L2 = ?

50
= 20 log ( ) = 24.4
3
2 = 1 = 87 24.4 = 62.6

2
= 20 log ( )
1
>
>
6 dB/double distance

2
= 10 log ( )
1
>
>
3 dB/DD

PLANAR (AREA SOURCE)

NR = 0 dB
, >
ABSORPTION COEFFICIENT

0 (100% REFLECTIVE) to 1 (100% ABSORPTIVE)

resonance and peak absorption. This theoretical frequency is determined by the

following equation:

In the equation, M is the mass of the panel in kilograms per square meter (kg/m 2), and D
is the depth of the airspace behind it in meters.
For example, a 3-mm thick Masonite panel has a mass of 2.9 kg/m2. If this were spaced
4 cm from a wall, the resonant frequency would be calculated like this:
Propagation Indoors: Mean Free Path
There are two main factors that affect the rate of decay of reverberation: the distance
(and thus time) between reflections, and the amount of energy lost upon each reflection.
The average distance traveled between reflections is known as themean free path, and
is dependent on the room size. The larger the room, the longer the mean free path and
the longer the decay rate.

The mean free path can be calculated using this equation:

l is the mean free path, V is the geometric volume of the room, and S is the total surface
area of the room.

Let's look at an example:

Here is a rectangular room with the dimensions 3 m wide x 5 m long x 2.5 m high.
First we'll find the volume of the space: V = 3 m x 5 m x 2.5 m = 37.5 m3

Then, we'll find the total surface area in the room by calculating and summing the areas
of each surface:

Floor 3 m x 5 m = 15 m2

Ceiling 3 m x 5 m = 15 m2

Wall 1 3 m x 2.5 m = 7.5 m2

Wall 2 3 m x 2.5 m = 7.5 m2

Wall 3 5 m x 2.5 m = 12.5 m2

 Wall 4 5 m x 2.5 m = 12.5 m2

S = 15 m2 + 15 m2 + 7.5 m2 + 7.5 m2 + 12.5 m2 + 12.5 m2 = 70 m2

We can now plug these into our equation to solve for l:

From this, we can find the average time between reflections by calculating how much
time it would take for sound to travel 2.14 m. Remember that sound travels at c = 344
m/s, so the time t to go a distance of d = 2.14 m would be:
So this example room has a very short time between the average sound reflections, 6.2
ms. Again, this resultcoupled with the amount of energy lost with each reflectionwill
determine the room's reverberation decay time.

he sabine equation is:

V is the volume of the room in m3 and A is the total absorption in metric sabins.

One metric sabin is equivalent to 1 m2 of 100% absorptive material (a = 1). The original
use of the term sabin to describe absorption was in English units, so we use the term
metric sabin to distinguish from the standard sabin.
The total absorption, A, is calculated using this equation:

S is the surface area in m2 of a surface in the room. The Greek letter sigma is used in
mathematics to designate asummation. That simply means that we will multiply the
surface area and absorption coefficient for each surface in the room (thus finding the
equivalent absorption of each surface) and add them to find A, the total for all of the
surfaces in the room. Another way to look this equation is:

where n is the total number of surfaces in the room.

An example might make this more clear.

Here is the room that we looked at earlier when we calculated mean free path. It now
has absorption coefficients indicated for each of the surfaces.
The sketch also indicates that the 1000 Hz octave band is represented. These
coefficients would likely be quite different for other bands.

To find the total absorption, we will first find the absorption of each surface by multiplying
its surface area (S) by its absorption coefficient. We can then add these totals together
to get A.

Doing this in a table may make it easier to visualize the steps:

Surface S a Sa

Floor 15 m2 0.10 1.5 Sab

Ceiling 15 m2 0.90 13.5 Sab

Walls (total of 4) 40 m2 0.45 18 Sab

A= 33 sabins

We know now that A = 33 metric sabins. Let's find the volume of the space:

3 m x 5 m x 2.5 m = 37.5 m3

Now we can plug these values into the sabine equation to find the 1000-Hz
reverberation time: