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:
“What can you do against the lunatic who is more intelligent than yourself, who gives your arguments a fair hearing and then simply persists in his lunacy.”
—George Orwell (1903–1950)
“That myth—that image of the madonna-mother—has disabled us from knowing that, just as men are more than fathers, women are more than mothers. It has kept us from hearing their voices when they try to tell us their aspirations . . . kept us from believing that they share with men the desire for achievement, mastery, competence—the desire to do something for themselves.”
—Lillian Breslow Rubin (20th century)