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Engineering ToolBox > Sound Power, Intensity and Pressure
Decibel is a logarithmic unit used to describe the ratio of the signal level - power, sound pressure, voltage or intensity or several other things.
The decibel can be expressed as:
decibel = 10 log( P / Pref ) (1)
where
P = signal power (W)
Pref = reference power (W)
Sound power is the energy rate - the energy of sound per unit of time (J/s, W in SI-units) from a sound source.
Sound power can more practically be expressed as a relation to the threshold of hearing - 10-12 W - in a logarithmic scale named Sound Power Level - Lw:
Lw = 10 log ( N / No) (2)
where
Lw = Sound Power Level in Decibel (dB)
N = sound power (W)
Sound Intensity is the Acoustic or Sound Power (W) per unit area. The SI-units for Sound Intensity are W/m2.
The Sound Intensity Level can be expressed as:
LI = 10 log( I / Iref ) (3)
where
LI = sound intensity level (dB)
I = sound intensity (W/m2)
Iref = 10-12 - reference sound intensity (W/m2)
The Sound Pressure is the force (N) of sound on a surface area (m2) perpendicular to the direction of the sound. The SI-units for the Sound Pressure are N/m2 or Pa.
The Sound Pressure Level:
Lp = 10 log( p2 / pref2 ) = 10 log( p / pref )2 = 20 log ( p / pref ) (1)
where
Lp = sound pressure level (dB)
p = sound pressure (Pa)
pref = 2 10-5 - reference sound pressure (Pa)