ACOUSTIC SOUND POWER MEASUREMENTS

Santiago Iturburu, Lucas Fernandez Garabenta, Pedro Venezia

santiturburu@gmail.com, lucasrafaelfg@gmail.com , venezia46238@estudiantes.untref.edu.ar
Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero, Ingeniería de Sonido, Caseros, Buenos Aires, Argentina

1. Introduction
Nowadays, people matters about the noise that a domestic asset could produce, either for life quality
or for any potential or existing problem regarding neighbours. This is why sometimes manufacturers
include acoustic power information about their products. In case there is no acoustic information, there
are some methods provided by international standard ISO-3743 to determine acoustic power levels of
small mobile noise sources. Particularly part 2 of this standards indicates an engineering direct method
so that measurements doesn’t require laboratory conditions nor a reference source. This method stands that
averaged acoustic level pressure in time and space can be used to get the acoustic power level emitted from
the source, and requires an special reverberant room to do so.

2. State of art
Sound power level can not be measured directly and it must by calculated from sound pressure levels
and the appropriate characteristics of the surroundings. Randall F. Barron explains that there are three broad
classes of environment used in connection with sound power determination: (a) reverberant field, (b) direct
or anechoic field, or (c) in situ. In his book, he names the condition and limitations for each situation, and
points out the standards that regulates them.
In 2021, the CEO and founder of Quite Mark, Poppy Szkiler, gave an interview to BBC[4] where she
not only talks about the importance of how loud households sound, but also about how they sound, pointing
out specially the spectral distribution of the sound. In addition, she says that not only the acoustic power
level should be declared, but also their "quality", which says it’s a challenge considering that hearing is an
individual experience.

3. Theoretical Framework
In this section some concepts and definitions that are necessary for the application of the ISO 3734-2 [1]
standard are presented.

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3.1 Sound Pressure Level
Sound pressure level is defined as ten times the logarithm of the ratio between the squared effective
acoustic pressure p and the reference pressure p0 squared, where p0 = 20 µP a
 2
p
Lp = 10 log (1)
p0

3.2 Mean Sound Pressure Level

The mean sound pressure level for each band can be calculated by equation , where Lpi is the level
measured for the ith measurement.
 X n 
¯ 1 0,1.Lpi
Lp = 10 log ( 10 ) (2)
n i=1

3.3 Sound Power Level

Is the acoustic energy per unit of time. It describes the relationship between the energy radiated by the
source and a reference power W0 = 1 pW .
w
Lw = 10 log (3)
w0
As ISO 3734-2 standard indicates, for the direct measurement method equation x must be used, where
Tnom is the nominal reverberation time of the test chamber and V is the volume of it. V0 refers to 1 m3 , T0
to 1s and the subtraction of 13 dB are due to the acoustic density summed from the chamber boundaries.
Tnom V
Lw = L̄p − 10 log + 10 log − 13 dB (4)
T0 V0

3.4 Reverberation Time

Reverberation time (T60 ) is the time in seconds that would be required for the sound pressure level to
decrease by 60 dB after the sound source has stopped. The nominal reverberation time (Tnom ) of the test
chamber is determined by centering the T values (normalized to the reverberation time at a frequency of
1 kHz) within the limiting curves specified by the ISO 3734-2 standard, and it’s vital as it can be seen in
equation 4
For the applied method from this standard, the limit curves are Tlim1 = 0, 9R × Tnom and Tlim2 =
1, 1R × Tnom ,where Tnom = T1000Hz /R and it’s calculated for each frequency. For frequencies above 6.3
kHz, the constants 0.9 and 1.1 should be replaced by 0.8 and 1.2 respectively. R is the result of equation 5.
257
R=1+ (5)
f.V 1/3
In case that the source being studied interacts with any absorption surface during its measures, whether
it’s a structure that holds it or if it’s part of it, then the T60 measurement must include this absorption to
recreate the reverberation condition of the room.
According to ISO 354[2] standard, reverberation time can be measured using an indirect integrated
impulse method, where a sine sweep is used to stimulate the chamber with an omnidirectional source and
the recording of that is processed to obtained the impulse response. This standard states that there should
be at least 12 different combinations of source and microphone positions, with not less than two variations
of source position and three variations of microphone positions. In addition, the different microphone
positions should be at least 1.5 m from each other, 2 m from the source and 1 m from any surface of the test
chamber.

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3.5 Schroeder frequency
Schroeder frequency establishes the minimum frequency up to where the energy distribution of the
sound is not affected by the dimensions and geometry of the room. It can be obtained through the equation
(6), where T60 is the reverberation time for a 60 dB energy decay from the average T60 of 500 and 1000 Hz,
and V is the volume of the room.
r
T60
FSchroeder = 2000 (6)
V

3.6 Microphone positions

In accordance with ISO 3734-2, no microphone position shall be at a distance from the test chamber
surface less than λ/4, where λ is the wavelength of the central frequency of the lowest octave band to
consider. Also, the minimum distance Dmin , in meters, between the acoustic source surface and the closest
microphone shouldn’t be less than

Dmin = 0, 3.V 1/3 (7)

And no distance between microphones should be less than λ/2 meters

3.7 Estimated typical deviation and amount of positions

The standard applied here, sets the amount of microphone and source positions according to the estimated
typical deviation (SM ) resulted from measurements.
v
u n
u 1 X
SM = t (Lpi − L̄p )2 (8)
n − 1 i=1

With the SM values per band, a table is given by the standard to check if it’s needed or not to modify
the amount of positions.

3.8 Reverberation Time uncertainty.

Given the average T30 of the set of measurements, the standard deviation estimation is given by the
following equation:
v
u n
u 1 X
σ= t (Ti − Tmean )2 (9)
n − 1 i=1

3.9 Uncertainty propagation.

In a function f (x, y, ...), the combined uncertainty of each variable (∆x, ∆y, ...) can be estimate given
the equation 10 for the propagated uncertainty (∆f ).
s
∂f ∂f
∆f = [ .∆x]2 + [ .∆y]2 + ... (10)
∂x ∂y

According to the formula, for Lw estimation 4, the combined uncertainty is represented by the following
expression:
s
−10. 10
∆Lw = [∆L̄p ]2 + [ ∆Tnom ]2 + [ ∆V ]2 (11)
Tnom .ln(10) V.ln(10)

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For the global acoustic power level (LwT ) estimation given the levels of each frequency band (LwBi ),
and the deviation of each band value (∆LwBi ), the propagated uncertainty is given by the following formula:
v
uX e[ [LwBi10 ].ln(10)
u n
]
∆LwT = t ( LwT ∆LwBi )2 (12)
i=1 10 10

For the parameter of reverberation R the uncertainty involving the volume calculation is:
s
−257 2
∆R = ( 2 .∆V ) (13)
3.f.V 3
The uncertainty in the estimation of the limits curves for the reverberation time is given by the following
equation:
p
∆Tlim1. = (0, 9.R.∆Tnom )2 + (0, 9.∆R.Tnom )2 (14)

p
∆Tlim2 = (1, 1.R.∆Tnom )2 + (1, 1.∆R.Tnom )2 (15)
For frequencies above 6.3 kHz the constants 0.9 and 1.1 should be replaced by 0.8 and 1.2 respectively.
The uncertainty of the Tnom estimation is given by the following equation:
r
−T1000
∆Tnom = ( ∆R)2 (16)
R2

3.10 Tonal behaviour

IRAM 4062 [3] standard establishes a method to qualify the noise levels of sources that could produce
annoyance. According to it, the presence of tonal components can be confirm when the level of one
band exceeds that of the adjacent ones in a certain amount. The difference between bands depends on
the frequency:

• 15 dB in the bands whose central frequencies are between 25 Hz and 125 Hz

• 8 dB in the bands whose central frequencies are between 160 Hz and 400 Hz

• 5 dB in the bands whose central frequencies are between 500 Hz and 10000 Hz

3.11 Background Noise

Table 1: Background noise correction for SPL measurements.

Differences between the sound pressure level Correction to subtract the SPL measured with the
measured with the acoustic source operating and source operating in order to obtain the SPL solely
the sound pressure level of the background noise. attributable to the noise source.
[dB] [dB]
4 2
5 2
6 1
7 1
8 1
9 0.5
10 0.5
>10 0

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4. Procedure
Measurements took place in classroom 301 at Caseros II building of the Universidad Nacional de Tres
de Febrero, between 14:00 and 17:00 hours. Weather conditions according to Accuweather were 20° C,
with 46% humidity and atmospheric pressure of 1080 hPa. Dimensions of the test chamber are given in
figures 1 and 2, as they also show the mic positioning applied following the recommendations explained at
section 3.6, where λ/4 = 0, 34 giving that the lowest frequency band to analyze is at 250 Hz. The calculated
volume (V) is 110 m3 , which allows for the potential application of the standard, as discussed in the present
article.
9.30

4.00 0.85
1.10
3.00 1.35
2.05 2.00
1.50
2.48
3.30

Mic position
Source Position 2.05
4.90
4.70
2.65

2.50 1.85

4.00 1.40 1.55

1.20 7.35

Figure 1: Diagram of the measurement configuration.

The equipment used consisted on eight Earthworks M50 microphones, an Svantek sound calibrator,
one SSL 2+ interface and one Dell Inspiron PC with Reaper for measurements and the Aurora Plugin on
Audacity to process the compiled data. Further data processing was conducted using Python.
As the ISO 3743 standard indicates, the procedure executed is useful to determine the acoustic power
level in a simple way. The power level can be obtained through the average pressure level in an special room
that has a determined impact in the acoustic power emitted by the source. It can be seen in equation 4, the
calculations consider the reverberation time and the volume of the room, in order to discard the effect of it.
This standard also specifies that the methods are valid for measurements of all types of noise in a specified
frequency range, except for intermittent noises consisting of isolated impulses of energy acoustics.
Finally, ISO 3743 sets that the maximum size of the source under test and the lower limit of the
frequency range to which these methods apply depends on the size of the chamber used for acoustic
measurements. The volume of he acoustic sources should not exceed 1% of the volume of the special
reverberant test chamber.
The illustration in figure 3 offers a realistic depiction of the room, along with the positions of the source
and microphones, serving as a reference to aid in the interpretation of the diagrams.

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1.70 m
1.55 m
1.30 m

0.95 m 3.10 m
0.85 m

1.60 m 2.60 m

1.45 m
1.05 m

Figure 2: Diagram of the measurement configuration (Height).

Figure 3: Render of the measurement configuration.

4.1 Reverberation time measurements

Reverberation time measurements followed the ISO 354 standard, and were taken from a previous
analysis of the same room, assuming that any changes on the weather conditions of that day weren’t
significant enough to make any difference. Also, two persons stayed in the room in the same positions
they used later in the measurements for the present work, in order to represent the same situation.
Twelve microphone positions where used with one source position, as indicated by the standard, with a
1.5 m between microphones, 2 m from microphone to source and 1 m minimum from microphone to any
room boundaries.

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Once the reverberation time was calculated through the Aurora software, an average from all positions
was obtained and then normalized at 1 kHz so the curve per band can be compared with the limits set by
the standard.

4.2 Noise source measurement

In order to get the acoustic power level, the recording of the pressure level is done using the distribution
shown in figure 4 and especified in figures 1 and 2, fulfilling the requirements explained in section 3.6,
being λ = 2,75 m and Dmin = 1,44 m. All microphones are calibrated and the measures are processed to
obtained the pressure level detailed per octave band and one third octave frequency band, using equation 2.

Figure 4: Source and microphone positions

As indicated by the standard, observation time must be ten times larger than the average time constant
used. In the present study, an average time of 1 second is applied, so at least 10 seconds are measured
in each position for each source. All sources were placed in the floor, and hold by a person to represent
the normal use of it in case it was need it, but keeping the measure spot. Also, noise floor measurements
were taken to make any correction needed according to the standard requirements. There were eight point
measurements with two repetitions for each source.
Three sources were measured. First, a Total TVLI2001 handheld vacuum cleaner which can be seen
in figure 5. This source emits all the sound pressure at its sides, so ideally there’s no modification of its
behaviour when placed on the floor. The manufacturer doesn’t give any technical specification, not even
the electric power in the main web page to facilitate the comparison with a similar source. The vacuum
dimensions are 48x16.5x11 cm, weights 2.3 kg, and it’s battery wasn’t fully loaded at the time the measures
were made.

Figure 5: "Total TVLI2001" Wireless Vacuum Cleaner.

Then, a Philip Serie 3000 shaver is hold by a person in the same spot. Again, there’s no technical

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information about the acoustic power nor the physical characteristic given by the manufacturer. The shaver
is shown in figure 6, and its dimensions are 16x3x3.5 cm.

Figure 6: "PHILIPS Series 3000" Wireless Electric Shaver.

Lastly, an electric drill of the brand SPARK tools, shown in figure 7 is also hold in the same spot. This
device also does not include any specifications regarding the acoustic power provided by the manufacturer.

Figure 7: Electric Drill "SPARK tools"

As said before, both the electric drill and the shaver were hold by a person when the measures were
made, in order to get a similar behaviour in the acoustic response due to the characteristics of the sources.
Regarding the kind of acoustic emission these sources have, placing them on the floor or making them
hang from the ceiling wouldn’t be a representative situation. Nevertheless, the composition of the handheld
vacuum and the type of use it can have, allows the possibility to place it on the floor.

5. Results and discussions

The reverberation time (T30) of the room used in the measurements, alongside with its deviation, is
shown in figure 8. It is calculated using the Aurora software in one third octave frequency band analysis.
One thing to be aware off is deviations exceeding 100 ms within and below the 315 Hz frequency band. This
issue is directly correlated with the Schroeder Frequency (195 Hz) and the modal behaviour of the room.
In the lower frequency range below the Schroeder Frequency, there is a substantial discrepancy in sound

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pressure levels among measurement points, leading to increased deviations and uncertainties. Consequently,
this results in less precision and renders the measurements less reliable.

Figure 8: T30 and deviation for the room with two peoples.

The Reverberation Time Normalized to the T30 value at 1 kHz frequency band ((T /T1000 )is shown in
Figure 9a. This parameter along with the Reverberation Parameter of the Room (R), shown in figure 9b,
are used to estimate the Nominal Reverberation Time (Tnom ) of the chamber as proposed in the standards.
Examining the T30 curve reveals a local minimum at 1 kHz, a critical reference point for normalization and
subsequent estimations through the introduction of the Tnom .

(a) T30 normalized at 1 kHz and deviation. (b) Reverberation Parameter of the Room given the volume.

Regarding this discussion, figure 10 shows the limit curves estimation proposed by the normative, which
states that the normalized T30 curve (T /T1000 ) in relation to Tnom must be between both limit curves for the
room to be consider fit for the measurement. As seen in this figure, bands below 250 Hz and over 10 kHz
doesn’t meet this criteria, which means that all power level results associated with this bands should not be
taken into account. However, the results are shown, be aware.

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Figure 10: T/Tnom limit curves.

T30 is not easily changed at low frequencies, so a new room should be used to go lower than 250 Hz.
Instead, the high end T30 could be easily changed; it was actually changed by the presence of the two
people inside the room while measuring.
Figure 11 depicted the reverberation time of the measurement room in two conditions: empty and
occupied by two human beings. It’s possible that a higher bandwidth could have been achieved in the
absence of people, as their presence tends to absorb high frequencies during the measurements.

Figure 11: Variations of the T30 of the chamber.

Figures 12 and 13 show the average sound pressure level (SPL) of all measured points for the three
appliances, with and without A weighted, per octave and third octave frequency bands with its deviation.
Several analysis can be made from this curves.
First, how should we approach the tonal analysis of the source? According to the normative, as detailed
in section 3.10, only the vacuum cleaner exceeds the critical levels in the 500 Hz band when analyzed in

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octaves. Therefore, a one third frequency band analysis must be done to characterize the tonal behaviour
more precisely, which shows a strong tonal behaviour in between 400 and 500 Hz. The rest of the sources
show no significant tonal behaviour.

Figure 12: Sound Pressure Level for the different sources, in octave and 1/3 octave frequency bands.

Figure 13: Sound Pressure Level with A weighting for the different sources, in octave and 1/3 octave
frequency bands.

Figures 14a and 14b display the Smaart calibrated SPL slow filtered curve of one measure point for each
appliance and with all of them switched off, in order to capture the noise floor. Figure 14a shows the octave
and figure 14b the third octave frequency band measurement.

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(a) Calibrated SPL Measurements in Smaart, in octave (b) Calibrated SPL Measurements in Smaart, in 1/3 octave
frequency bands. frequency bands.

The background noise was not recorded. In consequence, there is no precise way of calculating the
signal to noise ratio to determine the measurement value and the proper correction detailed in section 3.11.
However, at the beginning of the measurement a calibrated Smaart capture of the background noise was
made, which is used as a reference to calculate the signal to noise ratio for each band and to estimate the
given corrections. Even tough this reference might not be representative, it will be analyzed as a means of
investigating the validity of the obtained results
A better way to calculate the signal to noise ratio would have been to record the background noise in
each measure point, make an average of it for each band, get its deviation, and compare the smaller possible
source level (considering deviations) in each band with the biggest possible background noise. In this case,
we would get the least fortunate event and make a rigorous correction. It is necessary to clarify that the
noise in the measurement room must be as steady and constant as possible. Large deviations in noise should
be an indicator to find a new room to measure.
Given by the Smaart capture, all differences smaller than 10 dB between background noise and source
are given in the table 2 and the normative corrections for them are shown in table 3.

Table 2: Differences between SPL of each source and the background noise level.

Freq [Hz] Shaver [dB] Vac. Cleaner [dB] Drill [dB]

125 1 5 0
160 7 7 4
200 5 - 9
250 4 - -
315 5 - -
400 4 - -
500 3 - -
630 - - -
800 7 - -

Table 3: Correction needed in the SPL due to background noise.

Freq [Hz] Shaver [dB] Vac. Cleaner [dB] Drill [dB]

125 >2 2 >2
160 1 1 2
200 2 0 0.5
250 2 0 0
315 2 0 0
400 2 0 0
500 >2 0 0
630 0 0 0
800 1 0 0

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Probably, if the background noise was properly measured, most of the electric shaver spectrum wouldn’t
be admissible because of the small signal to noise ratio, implying that the acoustic environment wasn’t
appropriate to measure this appliance.

Table 4: Differences between SPL of each source and the background noise level.

Freq [Hz] Shaver [dB] Vac. Cleaner [dB] Drill [dB]

125 3 3 2
250 4 - -
500 6 - -
800 7 - -

Table 5: Correction needed in the SPL due to background noise.

Freq [Hz] Shaver [dB] Vac. Cleaner [dB] Drill [dB]

125 >2 >2 >2
250 2 0 0
500 1 0 0
800 1 0 0

Finally, through equation 4 and with the considerations and corrections given by the applied standard,
the acoustic power level of the sources is calculated and displayed in figure 15 with no weighting and in
figure 16 with A weighting. The dotted lines shows the octave band, the deviation for each frequency band
is also observable.

Figure 15: Sound Power Level for the different sources, in octave and 1/3 octave frequency bands.

For the vacuum cleaner and the electric shaver the deviation decreases as the frequency increases. This
is logic following the room mode and Schroeder frequency analysis already done. Nonetheless, the electric
drill shows the opposite; the deviation increases with the frequency.
One reason might be the directivity of the source. If the sound radiation from the source is omnidirectional,
all equidistant microphones should get the same direct intensity from the source. But if the radiation is not
homogeneous, each measure point will present different intensities, increasing the deviation. This might

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mean that the Electric drill has a tendency to radiate more directively as the frequency gets higher, hence
the rising in deviation.

Figure 16: Sound Power Level for the different sources with A weighting, in octave and 1/3 octave
frequency bands.

The table ?? shows the global sound power levels (Lw) of each appliance with and without A weighting.
For the many reasons given on the lack of precision under 250 Hz and over 10 kHz, an additional sum
without those imprecise bands, called "filtered", is made. For the shaver, an exception is made, filtering all
under 800 Hz and above 10 kHz given the poor signal to noise ratio in those bands.
This filtered values represent the power, with and without A weighting, that the sources at least radiate
with certainty. This means that the source might or not radiate more power, but surely at least radiates this
values.

Table 6: Sound Power Levels (Lw) and Deviations for each device.

Lw Drill (dBA) Lw Drill (dB) Lw Shaver (dBA) Lw Shaver (dB) Lw Vacuum (dBA) Lw Vacuum (dB)
Lw dev Lw dev Lw dev Lw dev Lw dev Lw dev
Filtered 89.5 2.8 88.7 2.5 59.1 1.1 58.3 1.1 79.3 2.4 81.3 3.1
Unfiltered 89.6 2.7 88.9 2.4 59.2 1.1 70.6 2.9 79.3 2.4 82.1 2.7

Furthermore, both unfiltered and filtered values with A weighting are almost the same for all sources.
This means that the weight is taking considerable energy in the same filtered bands, therefore giving similar
results. This implies that if there were to be radiating energy masked by the background noise in the filtered
bands, it would be taken out by the weighting, making the results very similar to the filtered ones.
The filtered and unfiltered values are very similar to each other, except for the Electric Shaver, mainly
because of the presence of significant sound pressure level, especially in low frequencies, due to the
background noise.

6. Conclusions
As it can be seen, ISO 3743-2 standard can be applied to determine the acoustic power level with an
engineering approach, giving valid results whenever the requirements are accomplished. This standard
results particularly convenient because of the distances between the room surfaces and mic and source

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positions, and it’s clear about the compensation needed to get the power level through the energy of the
room. Nevertheless, the standard it’s not clear about the determination of the nominal reverberation time
and the limit curves, as it can be seen on the spanish version that needs to give an extended example of
calculation in the annex B.
About the requirements, the special room could be relatively easy to modify at high frequencies in order
to achieve the needed reverberation time, but it’s the opposite at low frequencies, where modifications in
the reverberation time are hard to get. Anyway, given that this standard is specified for small appliances, it
might be inferring that it’s unlikely that a small source could emit energy at low frequencies.

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References
1. [1]International Organization for Standardization. (2018). ISO 3743-2:2018 Acoustics —
Determination of sound power levels of noise sources using sound pressure — Engineering methods
for small, movable sources in reverberant fields — Part 2: Methods for special reverberation test rooms.
[2] International Organization for Standardization. (2003). ISO 354:2003 Acoustics — Measurement
of sound absorption in a reverberation room (2nd ed.).
[3]IRAM 4062 (2016). Ruidos molestos al vecindario: Método de medición y calificación (Annoying
noises for the neighborhood: Method for their measurement and qualification) (4th ed.).
[4]Kleinman, Z. (2021, May 31). Noisy appliances: How loud is your house? BBC News.https:
//www.quietmark.com/news/noisy-appliances-how-loud-is-your-house

7. Annex

Table 7: Reverberation Time estimation and related Parameters with standard deviation and propagated
uncertainties.
T T
Freq RT RTDev Tnom Tnom Dev T1000 T1000
Dev R RDev Tlim1 T1Dev Tlim2 T2Dev
Hz s s s s
160 1.314 0.146 0.788 0.065 1.249 0.142 1.335 0.093 0.947 0.103 1.157 0.126
200 1.237 0.049 0.830 0.055 1.176 0.055 1.268 0.075 0.947 0.084 1.157 0.102
250 1.246 0.041 0.866 0.048 1.184 0.049 1.215 0.060 0.947 0.070 1.157 0.086
315 1.219 0.035 0.899 0.040 1.159 0.044 1.170 0.047 0.947 0.057 1.157 0.070
400 1.186 0.035 0.928 0.033 1.127 0.043 1.134 0.037 0.947 0.046 1.157 0.056
500 1.159 0.028 0.950 0.027 1.102 0.038 1.107 0.030 0.947 0.037 1.157 0.045
630 1.114 0.029 0.969 0.021 1.059 0.038 1.085 0.024 0.947 0.029 1.157 0.036
800 1.070 0.015 0.986 0.017 1.017 0.029 1.067 0.019 0.947 0.023 1.157 0.028
1000 1.052 0.021 0.998 0.013 1.000 0.032 1.054 0.015 0.947 0.019 1.157 0.023
1300 1.108 0.024 1.010 0.011 1.053 0.034 1.041 0.011 0.947 0.015 1.157 0.018
1600 1.174 0.026 1.018 0.010 1.116 0.037 1.034 0.009 0.947 0.012 1.157 0.015
2000 1.192 0.026 1.025 0.008 1.133 0.037 1.027 0.007 0.947 0.010 1.157 0.012
2500 1.196 0.025 1.030 0.007 1.137 0.037 1.021 0.006 0.947 0.008 1.157 0.010
3200 1.184 0.011 1.035 0.005 1.125 0.029 1.017 0.005 0.947 0.006 1.157 0.008
4000 1.168 0.012 1.038 0.004 1.110 0.029 1.013 0.004 0.947 0.005 1.157 0.006
5000 1.126 0.012 1.041 0.003 1.070 0.029 1.011 0.003 0.947 0.004 1.157 0.005
6300 1.060 0.013 1.043 0.002 1.008 0.028 1.009 0.002 0.947 0.003 1.157 0.004
8000 0.976 0.010 1.045 0.002 0.928 0.025 1.007 0.002 0.842 0.002 1.262 0.003
10000 0.839 0.009 1.046 0.001 0.798 0.021 1.005 0.001 0.842 0.002 1.262 0.002
12500 0.703 0.011 1.048 0.001 0.668 0.019 1.004 0.001 0.842 0.001 1.262 0.002
16000 0.593 0.012 1.048 0.001 0.564 0.018 1.003 0.001 0.842 0.001 1.262 0.001

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Table 8: REverberation time variations

Freq. Two Persons Dev T30 Empty Empty Dev

160 1.315 0.141 1.371 0.165
200 1.238 0.046 1.298 0.054
250 1.246 0.041 1.255 0.03
315 1.219 0.035 1.246 0.023
400 1.186 0.035 1.208 0.040
500 1.159 0.028 1.202 0.044
630 1.114 0.029 1.161 0.029
800 1.070 0.015 1.114 0.033
1000 1.052 0.021 1.107 0.018
1300 1.109 0.024 1.176 0.029
1600 1.175 0.026 1.233 0.033
2000 1.192 0.026 1.250 0.029
2500 1.196 0.025 1.259 0.020
3200 1.184 0.011 1.257 0.014
4000 1.168 0.012 1.243 0.013
5000 1.126 0.012 1.205 0.012
6300 1.060 0.013 1.136 0.018
8000 0.976 0.01 1.043 0.012
10000 0.839 0.009 0.891 0.008
12500 0.703 0.011 0.750 0.010
16000 0.593 0.012 0.643 0.010

Table 9: Sound Pressure Average for each Source

Freq [Hz] Shaver [dB SPL] Dev. Vac. Cleaner [dB SPL] Dev. Drill [dB SPL] Dev.
125 40.9 4.3 40.6 2.6 42.5 5.5
250 35.5 3.6 52.8 2.9 55.4 2.0
500 36.2 2.6 72.6 4.0 66.3 1.6
1000 42.2 2.1 57.3 2.2 72.0 2.0
2000 48.1 1.9 60.6 1.5 76.1 4.8
4000 44.3 1.5 64.6 2.0 77.6 4.9
8000 42.5 1.3 58.0 1.6 73.0 2.7
16000 32.9 1.4 47.6 1.8 65.1 2.1

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 Acoustical Instruments & Measurements. 5/9/2023
Table 10: Sound Pressure Average for each Source in 1/3 octave frequency bands.

Freq [Hz] Shaver [dB SPL] Dev. Vac. Cleaner [dB SPL] Dev. Drill [dB SPL] Dev.
125 31.4 2.7 33.3 1.5 33.5 2.8
160 30.4 2.6 37.6 1.2 36.0 1.9
200 27.8 2.1 40.5 1.2 39.9 1.0
250 26.6 1.9 45.2 1.6 49.5 1.3
315 26.5 1.6 57.9 2.3 56.3 0.8
400 28.1 1.8 67.0 2.3 56.7 1.0
500 29.3 1.4 63.2 2.2 59.5 1.2
630 29.0 1.2 47.6 1.4 63.8 0.6
800 31.7 1.2 49.2 1.7 63.3 0.8
1000 36.4 1.2 49.5 1.0 65.0 1.9
1250 38.9 1.1 52.1 0.8 65.9 2.0
1600 41.8 1.1 52.4 0.9 68.8 2.7
2000 39.2 1.0 53.0 0.9 68.6 3.0
2500 37.4 0.9 57.0 1.1 68.3 3.0
3150 36.9 0.9 59.3 1.2 70.5 3.1
4000 35.8 0.8 52.1 0.9 70.0 2.5
5000 36.7 0.9 50.2 1.0 67.2 1.9
6300 35.9 0.7 52.0 0.9 66.3 1.7
8000 33.4 0.8 48.5 0.9 63.9 1.2
10000 28.9 0.8 45.9 1.0 61.7 1.3
12500 27.3 0.7 41.4 1.0 58.8 1.2
16000 27.0 1.1 41.6 1.3 59.3 1.2

Table 11: Sound Power Level estimation in octave frequency bands.

Freq Lw Shaver Sh_Dev Lw Vacuum Vac_Dev Lw Drill Drill_Dev

Hz dB dB dB dB dB dB
125 49.7 5.0 49.3 3.6 51.2 6.0
250 43.5 3.6 60.9 3.0 63.5 2.0
500 43.8 2.6 80.2 4.0 74.0 1.6
1000 49.6 2.1 64.7 2.2 79.4 2.1
2000 55.4 1.9 67.9 1.6 83.4 4.9
4000 51.5 1.6 71.9 2.0 84.9 4.9
8000 49.8 1.4 65.2 1.6 80.2 2.8
16000 40.1 1.5 54.8 1.8 72.3 2.2

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 Acoustical Instruments & Measurements. 5/9/2023
Table 12: Sound Power Level estimation in 1/3 octave frequency bands.

Freq Lw Shaver Sh_Dev Lw Vacuum Vac_Dev Lw Drill Drill_Dev

Hz dB dB dB dB dB dB
160 25.4 2.7 32.7 1.5 31.0 2.1
200 25.1 2.1 37.8 1.3 37.2 1.1
250 26.0 1.9 44.7 1.6 48.9 1.3
315 27.8 1.6 59.2 2.3 57.6 0.9
400 31.1 1.8 69.9 2.3 59.7 1.0
500 33.8 1.4 67.7 2.2 63.9 1.2
630 34.7 1.2 53.3 1.4 69.5 0.8
800 38.4 1.2 55.9 1.7 70.0 0.9
1000 43.8 1.3 57.0 1.1 72.4 1.9
1300 46.9 1.2 60.1 0.9 73.9 2.0
1600 50.1 1.1 60.8 1.0 77.1 2.7
2000 47.7 1.1 61.5 1.0 77.1 3.1
2500 46.0 1.0 65.6 1.2 76.9 3.0
3200 45.3 1.0 67.7 1.3 79.0 3.1
4000 44.1 0.9 60.3 1.0 78.3 2.6
5000 44.5 0.9 57.9 1.0 75.0 1.9
6300 43.0 0.8 59.1 1.0 73.4 1.8
8000 39.6 0.9 54.6 1.0 70.1 1.2
10000 33.6 0.9 50.7 1.1 66.4 1.3
12500 30.2 0.8 44.3 1.1 61.7 1.3
16000 27.6 1.2 42.3 1.4 59.9 1.3

Table 13: A weighted Sound Power Level estimation in octave frequency bands.

Freq Lw Shaver Sh_Dev Lw Vacuum Vac_Dev Lw Drill Drill_Dev

Hz dBA dB dBA dB dBA dB
125 33.6 5.0 33.2 3.6 35.1 6.0
250 32.6 3.6 50.0 3.0 52.6 2.0
500 40.6 2.6 77.0 4.0 70.8 1.6
1000 48.8 2.1 63.9 2.2 78.6 2.1
2000 56.4 1.9 68.9 1.6 84.4 4.9
4000 52.8 1.6 73.2 2.0 86.2 4.9
8000 50.3 1.4 65.7 1.6 80.7 2.8
16000 39.0 1.5 53.7 1.8 71.2 2.2

19
 Acoustical Instruments & Measurements. 5/9/2023
Table 14: A Weighted Sound Power Level estimation in 1/3 octave frequency bands.

Freq Lw Shaver Sh_Dev Lw Vacuum Vac_Dev Lw Drill Drill_Dev

Hz dB dB dB dB dB dB
160 38.8 2.7 46.1 1.5 44.4 2.1
200 36.0 2.1 48.7 1.3 48.1 1.1
250 34.6 1.9 53.3 1.6 57.5 1.3
315 34.4 1.6 65.8 2.3 64.2 0.9
400 35.9 1.8 74.7 2.3 64.5 1.0
500 37.0 1.4 70.9 2.2 67.1 1.2
630 36.5 1.2 55.1 1.4 71.3 0.8
800 39.2 1.2 56.7 1.7 70.8 0.9
1000 43.8 1.3 57.0 1.1 72.4 1.9
1300 46.3 1.2 59.5 0.9 73.3 2.0
1600 49.1 1.1 59.8 1.0 76.1 2.7
2000 46.5 1.1 60.3 1.0 75.9 3.1
2500 44.7 1.0 64.3 1.2 75.6 3.0
3200 44.1 1.0 66.5 1.3 77.8 3.1
4000 43.1 0.9 59.3 1.0 77.3 2.6
5000 44.0 0.9 57.4 1.0 74.5 1.9
6300 43.1 0.8 59.2 1.0 73.5 1.8
8000 40.7 0.9 55.7 1.0 71.2 1.2
10000 36.1 0.9 53.2 1.1 68.9 1.3
12500 34.5 0.8 48.6 1.1 66.0 1.3
16000 34.2 1.2 48.9 1.4 66.5 1.3

20