Issue 111

Acoustic Advice

Sound Measurement Tips and Tools

Making Time to Calibrate

Does winter weather cause things to slow down in your outdoor noise monitoring business? Take this opportunity to ensure your equipment is ready to go for the busy season and take advantage of Larson Davis' CAL+ services. More than just factory calibration for Sound Level Meters and Noise Monitoring Systems, CAL+ offers benefits like inspection, replacement of worn consumables, and more. With regular turnaround time as fast as 10 days, you'll have your meters back in time for warmer weather. Want to understand more about factory calibration? Check out our "Why Calibrate" video for a good introduction to the ins and outs of Sound Level Meter calibration.

Noise is Making News

Anyone who deals with environmental noise measurement knows the potential health effects of being exposed to too much noise. The harmful effects of excessive noise have been featured in several news stories recently. Whether the noise source is traffic in an urban environment, the persistent annoying ping from popular sports (pickleball, anyone?), the roar of airplanes passing overhead, or the din of a loud workplace, excessive noise has documented health effects beyond hearing loss. An article from The New York Times, published this summer, does a great job of educating the public on sound measurement and explains the often-unrecognized challenges that come with chronic noise. The authors used a Larson Davis Sound Level Meter in their research, but that’s not the only reason we took notice of the article. Their multimedia article “Noise Could Take Years Off Your Life. Here’s How” starts with a basic primer on noise level and then delves into how our bodies react to noise, including recent research that revealed increases in adrenaline levels, stiffened arteries, and spikes in indicators of inflammation after sleep was disrupted by noise. We think it's worth a read.

Meet Your New SoundExpert

Need to share noise data with a wide array of stakeholders? Check out our Data Service Web-Based Noise Monitoring. This subscription service is mobile-friendly and offers public access to noise data with real time dB levels on a map. The service also offers report generation and browser-based analysis.

• A, C, and Z frequency weightings
• F, S, and I time weightings
• 100 ms to 1 h time history
• Metrics including Leq, Lmax, Lmin, Lpeak, Ln (6 values), LDN, LDEN

Optional 1/3 and 1/1 octave filters offer the ability to characterize the frequency content of the sound, and a Class 2 version is also available. Get in touch with our team for a demo, or look at full specs on our website.

What’s New in Outdoor Noise Monitoring?

Looking for a simple solution for measuring outdoor noise and don’t need to check in on your data from afar? Our newest outdoor kit, SoundExpert Noise Monitoring System Model NMS048, is the ideal tool to deploy for up to two weeks on the supplied batteries, or even longer with available solar panels or AC power adaptor options. Retrieve the system to download and analyze data. The system is based on the SoundExpert Sound Level Meter and takes advantage of its unprecedented ease of use and long battery life.

Updates to G4 Software

The latest version of G4 LD Utility Software is now available on our website. New features include support for Ln statistics in measurement history time intervals for SoundExpert and Spartan Sound Level Meters. In addition, the software will now periodically look for new content such as instrument firmware and product documentation and give you the option to download it directly from G4. Users will now stay up to date on new features without having to look out for announcements from newsletter articles! (But keep reading – we promise to use the space to bring you more content that’s informative and interesting.)

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