Factors to consider when purchasing a sound level meter
A sound level meter is an instrument that measures sound pressure level and sound level based on a certain frequency and time weights. It is the most commonly used instrument in acoustic measurement, which can approximate the noise level of industrial noise, traffic noise, environmental noise, and household noise according to the auditory characteristics of the human ear.
Sound level meters can be used for measuring environmental noise, mechanical and electrical product noise, traffic noise, building acoustics, and electroacoustics. Some sound level meters can also be used to measure vibration by replacing the receiving part. The sound level meter can be connected externally or equipped with an octave filter or a 1/3 octave filter internally to perform spectral analysis of noise.
With the development of electronic technology, especially large-scale integrated circuits and computer technology, the frequency weighting, detector, and filtering circuits in sound level meters are implemented through digital signal processing technology instead of analog circuits. This not only simplifies the circuit and widens the dynamic range, but also greatly improves its functionality and stability, especially in achieving real-time spectrum analysis, making the use of sound level meters more widespread.
The sound level meter consists of components such as a microphone, attenuator, weighing network, amplifier, detection network, and indicator. The front part of the sound level meter is the microphone, which converts sound energy into electrical energy and sends it to the preamplifier of the host. After amplification, it is sent to the attenuator and weight network. After detection, the sound level reading is displayed by an indicator with certain damping characteristics.
Factors to consider when purchasing a sound level meter:
Price: When purchasing a sound level meter, the first consideration is the product price range. The price of a sound level meter depends on many factors, including functionality, accuracy level, number of channels, storage capacity, etc. In general, domestic sound level meters with the same indicators are much cheaper than imported products.
Function: For a sound level meter, the measurement function is an important indicator, which not only determines the application range of the sound level meter, but also has a significant relationship with the price of the sound level meter. According to the type of signal being measured, for steady-state noise signals, the function of the sound level meter only needs to measure the instantaneous sound pressure level; For the measurement of non-stationary signals, it is generally required to measure the time average sound level or equivalent sound level; For spectrum analysis, a noise spectrum analyzer should be selected.
Number of channels: A typical sound level meter only has one channel and only measures one channel of sound pressure level. Sometimes it is necessary to measure multiple sound pressure levels, so it is necessary to choose multiple channels. For example, measuring sound intensity level requires two channels, and measuring sound power level requires more channels. The use of multi-channel sound level meters greatly expands the use of sound level meters.
