Dynamic Range of Sound

The ear can handle an enormous range of sound pressure levels. The table below shows the power levels I in watts per meter-squared corresponding to sounds from the threshold of audibility to the threshold of pain. The term dynamic range denotes the ratio between the levels of the loudest and softest sounds we expect in a sound source or system. From the table, we can say that the dynamic range of the ear is 120 dB.

	I, w/m²	level, dB
threshold of hearing	10^-12	0
ppp	10^-8	40
p	10^-6	60
f
10^-4	80
fff
10^-2	100
threshold of pain	1	120

The level of 10^-12 watts/m² at 1 kHz is conventionally defined to be 0 dB

References

J Bachus, The Acoustical Foundations of Music, Second Edition, W.W.Norton, New York, NY, 1977.
Ken Steiglitz, A Digital Signal Processing Primer, with Applications to Digital Audio and Computer Music, Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1996. (ISBN 0-8053-1684-1)

Maintained by John Loomis, last updated 28 Oct 1997