What is decibel?

Any wild Saturday night house party seems incomplete without grooving to your favourite numbers on the highest volume, right? But, have you ever stopped to think about how we measure the intensity of these sounds? And why it is important to do so? If not, read on.

In simple terms, a decibel is a unit that allows you to quantify the intensity of sound. In other words, it tells you how loud (or quiet) a sound is. The decibel scale is named after the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell. A decibel is a logarithmic scale. That is to say, an increase of the sound level by 10, serves for an increase of the sound intensity by a factor of 10.

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The scale from which recognition of sound starts is at 0dB, which is the point where the human ear can start to detect noise. Now, the average human normally talks at a level of about 60dB, while, when they whisper, sound intensity goes down to as low as 30dB. In contrast, the local rock live show or a busy side of town may surpass 100 dB.

An understanding of the decibel levels around you is important, for living too long in places where noise levels average more than 85dB, may easily damage your ears. It is therefore extremely important to protect our ears against loud noises at all times. One step one can consider taking towards the same is ensuring they don’t take calls or listen to music on a pair of headphones or earphones for prolonged periods of time. Or maybe ensuring they don’t honk too much in traffic. With these little steps and their knowledge of what a decibel is, one can ensure they protect their own hearing at all times, and also perhaps, help reduce noise pollution in the environment.