In Hearing
The pressure at which sound becomes painful for a listener is the pain threshold pressure for that person at that time. The threshold pressure for sound varies only slightly with frequency and can be age-dependent. Additionally, people who have been exposed to more noise/music usually have a higher threshold pressure. Threshold shift can also cause threshold pressure to vary. Prolonged exposure to sound at levels evoking pain can cause physical damage, potentially leading to hearing impairment.
The volume in acoustics refers to loudness. It is a common term for the amplitude of sound, the sound pressure level or the sound pressure. Different values for pain threshold pressure level and pain threshold pressure are found in the literature:
| Threshold of Pain | ||
| Sound pressure level | Sound pressure | |
| 120 dBSPL | 20 Pa | |
| 130 dBSPL | 63 Pa | |
| 134 dBSPL | 100 Pa | |
| 137.5 dBSPL | 150 Pa | |
| 140 dBSPL | 200 Pa | |
Read more about this topic: Threshold Of Pain
Famous quotes containing the word hearing:
“Experience is not a matter of having actually swum the Hellespont, or danced with the dervishes, or slept in a doss- house. It is a matter of sensibility and intuition, of seeing and hearing the significant things, of paying attention at the right moments, of understanding and co-ordinating. Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“You are not wood, you are not stones, but men;
And being men, hearing the will of Caesar,
It will inflame you, it will make you mad.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)