By the usual rules for measuring any real physical entity, the decibel is shown to be the unit of level of a quantity proportional to power. One decibel is the level of the sound pressure that is 10(1/20)(symbol)1.12 times the reference pressure. The decibel is not a reference sample of power or voltage, so one cannot express a power or voltage in decibels; one does express a power or voltage level in decibels.

Author: Ashley, J. Robert
Affiliation: University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, CO
JAES Volume 19 Issue 6 p. 516; June 1971
Publication Date: June 1, 1971

Click to purchase paper as a non-member or you can login as an AES member to see more options.

No AES members have commented on this paper yet.

Subscribe to this discussion

To be notified of new comments on this paper you can subscribe to this RSS feed. Forum users should login to see additional options.

Start a discussion!

If you would like to start a discussion about this paper and are an AES member then you can login here:
Username:
Password:

If you are not yet an AES member and have something important to say about this paper then we urge you to join the AES today and make your voice heard. You can join online today by clicking here.