Decibel Meter?

Is there any program that can make my computer or PPC a decibel meter?

 

Decibel Meter is a bit vague and general. What exactly that you want to measure?

cheers ...

 

A thing to measure sound pressure.

 

Of a room? of an open air concert? of your neighbourhood?

cheers ...

 

If you want JUST an SPL meter, I don't know of any, off hand.

But if you want that functionality PLUS other audio stuff, Audacity might do the trick. Although having just said that, I don't know if it will actually read out the weighted db that most SPL meters do. Its a free download so you might give it a try.

Here is a thread from a discussion of using Audacity for SPL:

Using Audacity for SPL

My hunch was right, if you want A-Weighted or C-Weighted SPL it isn't going to do the trick.

A quick check on google turned up a bunch of hits though:

Google SPL meter software

Gary

 

What's the difference? An SPL meter, is an SPL meter, is an SPL meter. In your three examples the ONLY possible difference would be the dB scale.

Gary

 

Like this?
It's a plug in for WinAmp called 'BJR Labs Stereo Vu Meter'...

 

I just wanted to know how loud my speakers where getting.

 

Yep, those are only a few examples that I could think off of the time. OP had now just stated the exact nature of what the tool is for, and that was what I needed to know to offer a close response to the query.

cheers ...

 

Maybe this one?

http://www.speakerworkshop.com/

cheers ...

 

It's not really any use knowing how much dB you computer is churning out when the computer doesn't know the actual power of the speakers you have connected. The only way to measure that is when you have another device actually measuring the sound pressure in your room.
Besides that you can ofcourse create an audio file with a certain dB level but it'll always come down to what's playing it and at what level.

 

A VU meter is not the same thing as an SPL meter. In this case the VU meter would read the decibel level of the signal being played by Winamp. A SPL meter measures the decibel level of the sound in the room, car, arena. Basically it measures the final ACOUSTIC output of a system, where the VU meter is measuring the ELECTRICAL output.

Gary

 

But my point is none of those examples would make any difference on what tool is required. They all would require an SPL meter to measure the sound level. The only difference at all might be the sensitivity/dynamic range of the device or application.

Gary

 

That's a really cool application for designing speaker enclosures, and does have the sort of functionality that would allow for the measurement the OP wanted. But it is a lot more complex and has a lot more functions than needed. Plus it wasn't obvious from the writeup if it does the typical A-Weighted or C-Weighted readings provided by a simple handheld SPL meter.
There has to be something out there closer to that. I know there are iPhone apps for this that do just SPL.

Edit: Here is an example of an iPhone app for SPL: http://prmac.com/release-id-2599.htm and this windows app (event the free version) can be used to get SPL measurements http://www.trueaudio.com/


Gary

 

If you have a full duplex audio card (i.e one that can play and record at the same time) the computer can be the audio source and the measurement device too.

Gary

 

I agree that a Vu Meter isn't in and of itself a SPL meter, but by using the right audio in plugin for WinAmp the 'ELECTRICAL output' you can read is the 'ELECTRICAL output' of a microphone...Even the one built into most laptops...On a pretty accurate meter...BTW, how do you measure 'the final ACOUSTIC output of a system' without using an electrical meter?

 

True....but you'd still need a decent mic for it, right? No pure internal solution is going to work.

 

The issue with the VU meter is it doesn't do the SPL A-weighted or C-Weighted readings. A straight VU representation of the dB reading is not the same thing. And I haven't seen any such plugin for WinAmp.

Never claimed there was any other way to measure it. But the old Maxell audio tape advertisement comes to mind. Remember the one with the guy sitting in the chair with his hair, lampshade and the lamp-pull blown back.

 

Depends on the SPL range you need to measure and over what frequency range, but most likely a decent external mic will be needed. If we are talking about competitive measurements (the contests for who can produce the highest dB with a car stereo system) even a decent mic isn't going to be up to the rigors required. Those folks produce levels way beyond what even a good studio mic can handle. (I never did quite understand those contests.)

Even given all that, you are still going to need some way to calibrate any PC/Laptop based system. That will require an external SPL meter of some sort. But only during the claibration phase.

Gary

 

BTW thanks for showing that VU meter plugin. I had been looking for something like that. (I don't have much need for SPL metering, but VU does come in quite handy.) This one is real nice!!!

Gary

 

And a pretty accurate simulation of the Vu weighted curve.