3. Log vs decibel scale - Loudness and Level

In this video, we'll look at different ways we can represent the pressure values on a one dimensional scale. We'll quickly find out that plotting a vast range of values on a linear scale can lead to loss of resolution at the lower range of values, and we'll see how a logarithmic scale is better suited to represent exponential data. We'll learn the basics of logarithms or log, as a substitute for the exponent or power function. We delve further by representing pressures not on their own, but as ratios, with the baseline pressure value as the threshold of human hearing. We'll explore a unit that is most commonly associated with measurement and representation of pressure, the bel and decibel. We'll derive the equation of converting pressure into dBSPL, and answer a couple of commonly asked questions in the process.

Find the full playlist here:    • Loudness and Level  

Content:

00:00 Pressure and the linear scale
02:45 Mathematics of logarithms
04:15 Pressure ratios
05:41 Bel and decibel
10:56 Common questions

In this module on Loudness and Level we'll delve into how our sense of loudness is different for different frequencies and all the nuances associated with hearing. We'll look at level, and the technical ways of measuring and calculating the amplitude of signals. And finally we’ll look at a new way of measuring loudness that’s all the rage at the moment, the Loudness unit. It has redefined the standard used in streaming and broadcast, and promises to bring an end to the age of super compressed audio and the so-called loudness war.

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