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videos and how to guides
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GLOSSARY OF TERMS
ACOUSTICS--- The science of sound ( A subject very close to my heart)
dB OR DECIBEL- You will hear this term thrown around very loosly indeed
Well firstly let me give you a brief rundown of the types of dB related to sound and the weightings associated with them.
( I say related to sound because the measurement was not originally created for sound, it's just handy for sound because it moves in a logarithmitic fashion)
dB SPL or Lp = dB measured in sound pressure level
when you hear the layperson talking about dB they probably mean dB SPL
dBv = the voltage measurement unit
HEARING and AUDIOMETERY= This relates to everybody. Here are a few facts that are very worth knowing
Who has better hearing? Sorry Lads generally women. But of course it's not as simple as that.
1. In older age men tend to loose high frequencies while women hang on a bit better.
2. Men hear lower frequencies better, there a few theroies around for this like women are more tuned for hearing babies crying ( high pitch and such) Men are less likely to hear their wife in old age as high frequencies diminish. Evolution? Who knows.
I have heard (no pun intended) that women hear 2.3 times louder than men. I believe this to be untrue. In my studies I have not come across this fact in any scientific paper.
What is the hearing range? 20 Heartz to 20 KiloHeartz
Again this is not set in stone. This is what we generally think we are born with. By the time we are 16 we are more likely to hear 20Hz to 17KHz. During my studies in acoustics one of the girls in my group 30 ish years of age could quite clearly hear 23KHz.
Also the 20Hz lower limit can often be confused with feeling the sound rather than hearing it. It is a pressure wave remember.
As part of my research I also tested a large number of sound engineers mostly below the age of 22 and very few could hear 18Khz
About 30% had significant hearing damage, caused by loud music and earphones at too high a volume.
My study was to find if their hearing damage whether it was caused by temporary or permenant threshold shift was effecting their work.
The answer unquestionably yes.
Groups of these engineers were listening to unnecessarily loud music levels. And their resulting mix had more high frequency content than their fellow groups. What was more is the high frequency content was centered around the frequencies where their hearing had been affected.
Are some peoples ears more resilient to sound? Yes indeed this can vary quite alot. Some people can have quite robust hearing.
Loud noises or constant noise can have less of an impact on their TTS.
Presbycusis = age related hearing loss
Q= the directivity factor of sound (this is importact in loudspeaker design and noise reduction systems
Threshold (lower) = Where your hearing begins
TTS = Temporary threshold shift. Your ears protection system. Your ears bring this level up and down as you move from noisy to quiet enviornments.