Calculate Ambient Noise Intensity Increase: 86.0 dB - 85 dB

[collegegirl13]

A machinist is in an environment where the ambient sound level is of 85 dB, i.e., corresponding to the 8 Hours/day noise level. The machinist likes to listen to music, and plays a Boom Box at an average level of 86.0 dB.

A.Calculate the INCREASE in the sound level from the ambient work environment level (in dB)

I'm not sure really what to do... do I just subtract the two, because that seems to easy I changed the dB to intensity and stuff but not sure what to do with them either or if that is even right... Any help would be nice, or even a hint! Thanks!

 

[Chi Meson]

Keep in mind that, unless the worker has a Bose noise-cancellation headphone, his music is not going to block the ambient noise, but add to it. Therefore the intensities of the two sources are going to be added together. This does not correspond to the dB's being added though.

 

[nlightner]

As a scientist, it is important to accurately analyze and interpret data. In this case, the first step would be to convert the sound levels from decibels (dB) to sound intensity in watts per square meter (W/m^2). This can be done using the formula I = 10^(dB/10).

In this scenario, the ambient noise intensity is 10^(85/10) = 10^8.5 = 3162.277 W/m^2. The sound intensity of the Boom Box is 10^(86/10) = 10^8.6 = 3981.071 W/m^2.

Next, we can calculate the increase in sound intensity by subtracting the ambient noise intensity from the Boom Box sound intensity: 3981.071 - 3162.277 = 819.794 W/m^2.

Finally, to calculate the increase in sound level in decibels, we can use the formula dB = 10 log (I2/I1), where I2 is the new sound intensity and I1 is the original sound intensity. Plugging in the values, we get dB = 10 log (819.794/3162.277) = 10 log (0.259) = -5.9 dB.

This means that the machinist is exposed to an increase of -5.9 dB in sound level when listening to music at 86.0 dB in an environment with an ambient sound level of 85 dB. It is important for the machinist to be aware of this increase in sound level and take necessary precautions to protect their hearing.