what are decibels?

Question

i researched on the internet about it and the definitions confuse me. can someone explain to me what they are in an easier and understandable way so a teenager can know what you're talking about?

Answer 1

it is the form of measurement that is used to measure the "loudness of sound"
It's the amplitude of the wave

Answer 2

A decibel, or bel, is the ratio of the power or amplitude of 2 signals, often the input and output of an amplifier.

For power, the formula is: X(dB) = 10log(10) (X/Xo)

For amplitude, the formula is: X(dB) = 20log(10) (X/Xo)

Examples: If an amplifier boosts the power of a signal by 2, it has increased by 3 dB. If the increase has been 4 times, it has increased by 6 dB. If the increase has be 10 times, it has increased by 10 dB.

The name decibel may be named after Alexander G. Bell, possibly dividing the Bel into the smaller units. But somewhere in my memory I believe that the Bel had nothing to do with A. G. Bell or Bell labs. I'll have to see if I can find that again.

Answer 3

Everything makes a noise. A decibel (named after Alexander Graham Bell) is a unit of measurement that expresses the intensity of a sound (or the power of an electrical signal). OK?

Answer 4

Its a measurement of sound levels, A decibel is one tenth of a bell named after Alexander Graham Bell but we really don't use bells for measurement any more. The higher the decibel the louder something is

Answer 5

a decibel is the measure of the "loudness" of a sound. so it is like a ruler that you would use to measure sound. but it is in a logarithmic scale. So something that is 2decibels is 10 times as loud as something that is only 1decibel. 3decibels is 100times louder than 1 decibel.
a decibel is abbreviated dB.

Answer 6

de·ci·bel (ds-bl, -bl)
n. Abbr. dB
A unit used to express relative difference in power or intensity, usually between two acoustic or electric signals, equal to ten times the common logarithm of the ratio of the two levels.

The bel (symbol B) is mostly used in telecommunication, electronics, and acoustics. Invented by engineers of the Bell Telephone Laboratory to quantify the reduction in audio level over a 1 mile (1.6 km) length of standard telephone cable, it was originally called the transmission unit or TU, but was renamed in 1923 or 1924 in honor of the laboratory's founder and telecommunications pioneer Alexander Graham Bell.

The bel was too large for everyday use, so the decibel (dB), equal to 0.1 bel (B), became more commonly used. The bel is still used to represent noise power levels in hard drive specifications, for instance. The Richter scale uses numbers expressed in bels as well, though they are not labeled with a unit. In spectrometry and optics, the absorbance unit used to measure optical density is equivalent to −1 B. In astronomy, the apparent magnitude measures the brightness of stars logarithmically, since just as the ear responds logarithmically to acoustic power, the eye responds logarithmically to brightness.

Answer 7

generally Decibels are the units to measure the volume or intensity of sound. Its the most common and the easiest meaning to the word.

Answer 8

some decibel rankings: 0 db Threshold of listening to 30 db Whisper 40 db Buzz of mosquito 50 db wide-spread communication 70 db Vacuum air purifier a hundred db Subway or potential mower a hundred and twenty db Rock stay overall performance a hundred thirty db Jackhammer or device gun a hundred and fifty db interior sight jet airplane

Answer 9

A unit used to express relative difference in power or intensity, usually between two acoustic or electric signals, equal to ten times the common logarithm of the ratio of the two levels.