Sound Intensity - Sound Intensity Level

Sound intensity level or acoustic intensity level is a logarithmic measure of the sound intensity (measured in W/m2), in comparison to a reference level.

The measure of a ratio of two sound intensities is


L_\mathrm{I}=10\, \log_{10}\left(\frac{I_1}{I_0}\right)\ \mathrm{dB} \,

where I1 and I0 are the intensities.

The sound intensity level is given the letter "LI" and is measured in "dB". The decibel is a dimensionless quantity.

If I0 is the standard reference sound intensity


I_0 = \;10^{-12} \, \mathrm{W/{m}^{2}} \,

(W = watt), then instead of "dB SPL" we use "dB SIL". (SIL = sound intensity level).

Read more about this topic:  Sound Intensity

Famous quotes containing the words sound, intensity and/or level:

    But those rare souls whose spirit gets magically into the hearts of men, leave behind them something more real and warmly personal than bodily presence, an ineffable and eternal thing. It is everlasting life touching us as something more than a vague, recondite concept. The sound of a great name dies like an echo; the splendor of fame fades into nothing; but the grace of a fine spirit pervades the places through which it has passed, like the haunting loveliness of mignonette.
    James Thurber (1894–1961)

    The bourgeois treasures nothing more highly than the self.... And so at the cost of intensity he achieves his own preservation and security. His harvest is a quiet mind which he prefers to being possessed by God, as he prefers comfort to pleasure, convenience to liberty, and a pleasant temperature to that deathly inner consuming fire.
    Hermann Hesse (1877–1962)

    The effort to understand the universe is one of the very few things that lifts human life a little above the level of farce, and gives it some of the grace of tragedy.
    Steven Weinberg (b. 1933)