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:
“It was my thirtieth year to heaven
Woke to my hearing from harbor and neighbor wood”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)
“It is surely a matter of common observation that a man who knows no one thing intimately has no views worth hearing on things in general. The farmer philosophizes in terms of crops, soils, markets, and implements, the mechanic generalizes his experiences of wood and iron, the seaman reaches similar conclusions by his own special road; and if the scholar keeps pace with these it must be by an equally virile productivity.”
—Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929)