Sound Pressure Level Calculator

What is Sound Pressure Level?

People can interpret sound levels differently, thus it's important to have a way to measure sound level objectively and describe it numerically. This is known as Sound Pressure Level (SPL), and it might be challenging to understand.

We must first have an idea of what "Sound Pressure" is to understand what SPL is. The average change in air pressure brought on by sound is known as sound pressure (p). The measurement of pressure is in pascals (Pa).

Sound Pressure Level Formula:

Sound Pressure Level:

SPL = 20log₁₀ (P/Pref)

Sound Pressure:

P = Pref * 10 SPL/20

Reference Pressure:

Pref = P / 10 SPL/20

Here,

• SPL = Sound Pressure Level,
• Prms =root mean square value pressure,
• Pref = Reference Pressure.

How to calculate sound pressure level?

Example

Evaluate the sound pressure level when the rms pressure value is 44 and the reference pressure is 13 μPa.

Solution:

Step 1:

Extract the given data:

Prms = 44 μPa

pref = 13 μPa

Step 2:

The formula for the Sound pressure level is given below

Lp = 20 log₁₀ (p_rms / p_ref)

Step 3:

Calculations:

Lp = 20 log₁₀ (44 / 13)

Lp = 20 * 0.52950932417994

Lp = 10.5901 dB