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Department of Mechanical & Mechatronic Engineering

Faculty of Engineering
Vibration & Noise 344
Noise Lecture 1
Introduction
Prof Wikus van Niekerk
13 September 2010
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Aanbiedingsplan
Lesing 1 Inleiding tot klank en geraas: klankdruk, klankgolwe, dB skaal.
Lesing 2 Effek van klank op die mens: hoe hoor ons, weegskale,
beoordeling van klankdrukpeile
Lesing 3 Hoe word klank gemeet
Lesing 4 Geraas in die werkplek: SANS 10083
Lesing 5 Geraas in die omgewing: SANS 10103
Lesing 6 Beheer van geraas: afskerming en absorbsie, praktiese stappe
om geraas te beheer
Demo 3 Demonstrasie: meting van klank, klankpeilmeter
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References
ANON. SANS 10083:2004, The measurement and assessment of
occupational noise for hearing conservation purposes, Standards South Africa,
2004.
ANON. SANS 10103:2008, The measurement and rating of environmental
noise with respect to annoyance and to speech communication, Standards
South Africa, 2008.
BERANEK, L.L. & VER, I.L. Noise and Vibration Control Engineering:
Principles and Applications, Wiley, 1992.
HASSALL, J & ZAVERI Acoustic Noise Measurements, Brel &
Kjr, 1979.
KINSLER, L.E., FREY, A.R., Fundamentals of Acoustics, Third Edition
COPPENS, A.B. & SANDERS, J.V. Wiley, 1982.
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Lecture 1: Introduction
What is sound?
How does sound propagate?
How do we measure sound?
What is a decibel?
How does one add and subtract decibels?
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What is sound?
Sound is any variation in air-pressure that the human ear
can detect. The sound pressure fluctuates around the
ambient air pressure.
Sound waves propagate in air at the speed
of sound of approximately
c = 340 m/s
f: frequency in [Hz]
: wavelength in [m]
The speed of sound varies with
temperature and medium
(In water c = 1 500 m/s)
(In steel c = 6 100 m/s)
f c =
6
What is the wavelength of sound waves?
The wavelength depends on the frequency:
Frequency Wavelength
10 Hz
100 Hz
1 kHz
10 kHz
34 m
3,4 m
340 mm
34 mm
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How does one measure sound?
Sound is measured as the pressure variation in Pa. Sound
Pressure Level (SPL) is expressed in deciBels
SPL is given by:
p
ref
= 20 Pa
Decibells compresses the scale
from 20 to over 100 000 000 in
Pa into a more manageable scale
from 0 to 140 in dB.
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\
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=
ref
p
p
SPL
10
log 20
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Root mean square (r.m.s.)
2
1
0
2
) (
1
. . .

T
dt t p
T
s m r
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How are decibels perceived?
The reaction of a person to changes in decibels can be
summarised by:
Change in dB - level Human reaction
1 dB
3 dB
( Actual doubling of sound level) 6 dB
10 dB
Barely perceptible
Noticeable
Clearly noticeable
Perceived as doubling in sound level
A pure tone, a single frequency sinusoid, can be heard even
if it is 10 dB below the ambient noise level.
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Decibel is a measure of energy
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=
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=
ref
s m r
ref
s m r
p
p
p
p
SPL
. . .
10
2
. . .
10
log 20 log 10
Decibel relate the level of energy in a signal, expressed as the
r.m.s. level, to a reference value
Quantity Reference Value
Sound pressure level
Acceleration
Velocity
Force
Power
Energy
20 Pa
10
-6
m/s
2
10
-9
m/s
10
-6
N
10
-12
W
10
-12
J
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How does one add decibels?
Adding dBs must be done carefully:
dB dB dB 120 60 60 +
dB dB dB 63 60 60 = +
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+ + + =
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10 10 10 10
10
10 10 10 10 log 10
3 2 1 pn p p p
L L L L
Tot p
L L
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How does one add decibels?
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How does one subtract decibels?
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=
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10 10
10
10 10 log 10
Background p Tot p
L L
result p
L