Decibel Comparison Formulas for Sound Levels

  • Thread starter Thread starter vertciel
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Comparison
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
4 replies · 5K views
vertciel
Messages
62
Reaction score
0
Hello everyone,

Could anyone please show me the appropriate formulas which I need for the following question?

1. How many times louder or softer than sound level of 40 dB is a sound at

a) 68 dB? b) 0.3 dB?


Thank you.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Thanks for your reply.

I know how to calculate the difference in sound level for integers divisible by 10. For example, 60 dB is 10^2 or 100 times louder than 40 dB.

However, I know that I must use logarithms for calculating the difference in sound level for all other integers.
 
Well look at the example of 40 dB

I = 10000 I0, or I = [tex]10^{40dB/10}[/tex] I0 = 10000 I0

and for 60 dB, I = [tex]10^{60dB/10}[/tex] I0 = 106I0

and for 68 dB, ____________?
 
Thank you very much for your help!