A sound level meter or sound meter is an instrument which measures sound pressure level, commonly used in noise pollution studies for the quantification of different kinds of noise, especially for industrial, environmental and aircraft noise. However, the reading from a sound level meter does not correlate well to human-perceived loudness, which is better measured by a loudness meter. The current international standard that specifies sound level meter functionality and performance is the IEC 61672:2003.
Famous quotes containing the words sound, level and/or meter:
“All sound heard at the greatest possible distance produces one and the same effect, a vibration of the universal lyre, just as the intervening atmosphere makes a distant ridge of earth interesting to our eyes by the azure tint it imparts to it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I love thee to the level of everyday’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.”
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861)
“Much poetry seems to be aware of its situation in time and of its relation to the metronome, the clock, and the calendar. ... The season or month is there to be felt; the day is there to be seized. Poems beginning “When” are much more numerous than those beginning “Where” of “If.” As the meter is running, the recurrent message tapped out by the passing of measured time is mortality.”
—William Harmon (b. 1938)