Data Collection – Qualitative Sound Level Recordings
|
Decibel Level (dbl) |
Description of Sound |
|
Below 10 dbl |
The human ear cannot detect sound levels below 10dbl |
|
10 dbl |
Lowest audible sound e.g. leaves rustling |
|
20 dbl |
Watch ticking |
|
30 dbl |
Quiet garden sounds – birds singing |
|
40 dbl |
Quiet street with no traffic – just a background hum of activity |
|
50 dbl |
Rushing water |
|
60 dbl |
Normal conversation |
|
70 dbl |
Noisy restaurant |
|
80 dbl |
Loud music or traffic passing near-by |
|
90 dbl |
Lorry or bus revving at 5 metres – can be painful and damage the ears |
|
100 dbl |
Rock concert - can be painful and damage the ears |
|
110 dbl |
Metal working factory - can be painful and damage the ears |
|
120 dbl |
Pneumatic drill at 1 metre - can be painful and damage the ears |
|
130 dbl |
A jet engine at 30 metres - can be painful and damage the ears |
Hints:
When using this qualitative table – please remember to use values of noise level in between the numbers listed here.
For example you may hear traffic passing by that is louder than ‘loud music’ by is not a loud as a ‘revving bus’ – so you could record your value at that particular site at 88 decibels.
What you are attempting to do here is avoid a data set of just 60s, 70s, 80s, or 90s.