Question: What is a decibel, and what is the loudest sound I can listen to before it hurts my ears?
Answer: The decibel (abbreviated dB) is the unit used to measure the intensity of a sound. The decibel scale is a little odd because the human ear is incredibly sensitive. Your ears can hear everything from your fingertip brushing lightly over your skin to a loud jet engine. In terms of power, the sound of the jet engine is about 1,000,000,000,000 times more powerful than the smallest audible sound. That's a big difference!
On the decibel scale, the smallest audible sound (near total silence) is 0 dB. A sound 10 times more powerful is 10 dB. A sound 100 times more powerful than near total silence is 20 dB. A sound 1,000 times more powerful than near total silence is 30 dB. Here are some common sounds and their decibel ratings:
Near total silence - 0 dB
A whisper - 15 dB
Normal conversation - 60 dB
A lawnmower - 90 dB
A car horn - 110 dB
A rock concert or a jet engine - 120 dB
A gunshot or firecracker - 140 dB
You know from your own experience that distance affects the intensity of sound -- if you are far away, the power is greatly diminished. All of the ratings above are taken while standing near the sound.
Any sound above 85 dB can cause hearing loss, and the loss is related both to the power of the sound as well as the length of exposure. You know that you are listening to an 85-dB sound if you have to raise your voice to be heard by somebody else. Eight hours of 90-dB sound can cause damage to your ears; any exposure to 140-dB sound causes immediate damage (and causes actual pain).
Source: HowStuffWorks.com
- DarkAbyssXx
9:21 PM
CURRENT PHILOSOPHY
He who laughs last should do so from a safe distance!
BLOG ATTRACTIONS
Portmanteau Words, Great Jokes, Facts Of Life, Short Forms and Long Words, Tough Words, Anecdotes And Meaningful Stories Of Life, Hilarious Story Of A Donkey, Morals Of Life, The Bermuda Triangle Of 6 Sunflower, Funny Pictures, Hilarious Poem, The Ultimate Showdown Of Ultimate Destiny video, Health Articles and MUCH, MUCH MORE!!!
BLOG DIVISIONS
Facts Of Life
Splash Of Fun
NUMBER OF POSTS
Current: 115
BLOG UPDATE STATUS
Inactive
LAST UPDATE
10/09/2008
FLASHBACK
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
August 2008
September 2008
FUN LINKS
One Manga
Anime Thunder
Snopes
Peter Answers
Narutopedia
MP3 OST Downloads
FPS Banana
Blingy Bob
ThinkQuest Library
Hapeepill
STOMP
Radio Blog Club
Brain Bashers
MapleStory SEA
Hidden-Street
MapleTip
YouTube
VeohTV
Neave
Scribbler
Cool Cosmos
Brain Bashers
MiniClip Games
Crazy Monkey Games
Crunchy Roll
IMEEM Playlists
Happy Tree Friends
Online Dictionary
Museum Of Hoaxes
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
DaFont
Urban Fonts
Fonts 101
Txt 99
OTHER BLOGS
Mr Hoe
Mr Hoe (2)
6 Tulip
Wei Kang
Qi Wen
Zhan Peng
Ling Yun
Zhi Hui
Wing Yan
Crystal
Mei Xin
CREDITS
www.blogskins.com
BLOG VIEWS
MUSIC PLAYLIST
SLIDESHOWS
POLL
WHO'S AMONG US?
COUNTER
SHOUTBOXES