This quiz is all about volume and decibels. Whether we get you screaming with frustration of celebrating in victory, this quiz is guaranteed to increase your decibel level.
How did you go? What topics would you like to see future quizzes on?
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By Adrian Try
Adrian is writer and editor for Audiotuts+ and Envato Notes. He has been playing keys and acoustic guitar for three decades, and has six kids. Follow him on Twitter at @envatoaudio.
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Questions 4&5 should be in dB SPL, dB is a purely relative measure.
You’re right, Josh. Thanks for that clarification.
The last answer is wrong ! Doubling the volume is not equal at all to +10 dB ! 20 x log10(2) = + 6.02 dB
For 10 dB : 10 ^ (10/20) = 3.16. So + 10 dB means tripling the volume…
So many mistakes in this quiz. Adrian, Try studying some more
Hi Ivan and Saul. This is where it gets tricky… what is volume. Although it’s been a very long time since I studied this stuff, I heard the 10 dB explanation just a few years ago from a university lecturer teaching Bachelor of Popular Music. He seemed to have the maths to back it up.
I think the issue comes down to how we measure “perceived volume”. It’s not the same thing as either power or amplitude. Here are a couple of sites that discuss the issue, and agree that twice the perceived volume is an increase of around 10 dB.
Saul, I’d really appreciate if you could point out any other errors. I did my degree in physics and pure mathematics way back in the 80s, so there’s a chance I’m a little rusty. Though I did check all the answers first… except the 10 dB one.
Q4 – You can’t hear 0db so it would be 1db?
Hi Jason. 0 dB isn’t defined as silence (which is what I would have guessed), but as the quietest perceived sound.
Siii, obtuve 80 puntos en el quiz, creo que en verdad estoy aprendiendo.
wow…doubling in volume is +6db… not 10…sure maybe perceive is 10…but i am doing my degree at the moment and that is what they teach us at least..
Also, they say it is by all means relative +6db