APPENDIXBSAMPLEEQUATIONSANDCALCULATIONS

B.1

SoundPressureLevel

Thehumanearcanhearabroadrangeofsoundpressures.Becauseofthis,thesoundpressurelevel(Lp)
ismeasuredindecibels(dB)onalogarithmicscalethatcompressesthevaluesintoamanageablerange.
Incontrast,directpressureismeasuredinpascals(Pa).Lpiscalculatedas10timesthelogarithmofthe
squareoftheratiooftheinstantaneouspressurefluctuations(aboveandbelowatmosphericpressure)
tothereferencepressure:
Lp=10log10(P/Pref)2
WherePistheinstantaneoussoundpressure,inunitsPa,andPrefisthereferencepressurelevel,
definedasthequietestnoiseahealthyyoungpersoncanhear(20Pa).
Example:Ifapieceofequipmenthasasoundpressureof2Pa,thesoundpressureleveliscalculated:
Lp=20log10(2/0.00002)=20log10(100,000)=205.0=100dB
B.2

SoundPowerLevel

Soundpowerlevel(Lw)issimilarinconcepttothewattageofalightbulb.Infact,Lwismeasuredinwatts
(W).UnlikeLp,Lwdoesnotdependonthedistancefromthenoisesource.Thesoundpowerlevelis
calculatedusingthefollowingequation:
Lw=10log10(W/Wref)
WhereWistheacousticpowerinwattsandWrefisthereferenceacousticpower,1012.
Example:Thesoundpowerlevelassociatedwithatypicalfacetofaceconversation,whichmayhavea
soundpowerof0.00001W,iscalculated:
Lw=10log10(0.00001/1012)=70dB
B.3

CombiningandAveragingSoundLevels

Decibelsaremeasuredusingalogarithmicscale,whichmeansdecibelscannotbeaddedarithmetically.
Forexample,iftwonoisesourcesareeachproducing90dBrightnexttoeachother,thecombinednoise
soundlevelwillbe93dB,asopposedto180dB.Thefollowingequationshouldbeusedtocalculatethe
sumofsoundpressurelevels,soundintensitylevels,orsoundpowerlevels:
TotalL=10log10( 10

Often,usingthisequationtoquicklysumsoundlevelswhenthereisnocalculatororcomputeravailable
isdifficult.Thefollowingtablecanbeusedtoestimateasumofvarioussoundlevels:

B-1

DifferenceBetweenTwoLevelsto AmounttoAddtoHigherLevelto
BeAdded
FindtheSum
01dB

3dB

24dB

2dB

59dB

1dB

10dB

0dB

Example:Therearethreenoisesourcesimmediatelyadjacenttooneanother,eachproducingasound
levelof95dB.Thecombinedsoundlevelcanbefoundusingthetableabove.Thedifferencebetween
thefirsttwonoisesourcesis0dB,whichmeansthesumwillbe95+3=98dB.Thedifferencebetween
98dBandtheremainingnoisesource(95dB)is3,whichmeansthesumwillbe98+2=100dB.

B.4
AddingNoiseExposureDurationstoDetermineCompliancewithOSHAStandards
UnderOSHAstandards,workersarenotpermittedtobeexposedtoan8hourTWAequaltoorgreater
than90dBA.OSHAusesa5dBAexchangerate,meaningthenoiseleveldoubleswitheachadditional5
dBA.Thefollowingchartshowshowlongworkersarepermittedtobeexposedtospecificnoiselevels:
PermissibleDuration
(HoursperDay)

SoundLevel
(dBA,SlowResponse)

16

85

90

95

100

102

105

110

orless

115

ThevaluesinthechartabovearefromTableG16inthegeneralindustrystandard,29CFR1910.95.To
calculateapermissibledurationthatisnotaddressedinthischart,usethefollowingequation:

/
2

WhereTisthepermissibleduration(inhours)andListhemeasuredsoundlevel(indBA).

Aworkersdailynoiseexposuretypicallycomesfrommultiplesources,whichhavedifferentnoiselevels
fordifferentdurations.Whenaddingdifferentnoiselevelsfromvariousnoisesources,onlynoiselevels
exceeding80dBAshouldbeconsidered.Thecombinedeffectofthesenoisesourcescanbeestimated
usingthefollowingequation:

Sum=C1/T1+C2/T2+C3/T3+Cn/Tn

WhereCnisthetotaldurationofexposureataspecificnoiselevel,andTnisthetotaldurationofnoise
permittedatthatdecibellevel.Ifthesumequalsorexceeds1,thecombinednoiselevelisgreater
thantheallowablelevel.Ifthesumislessthan1,thecombinednoiselevelislessthantheallowable
level.
B-2

Example:Aworkerinamachineshopisexposedto95dBAfor2hours,69to78dBAfor4hours
(includinga15minutebreakand45minutelunch),and90dBAfor3additionalhours.

Example:WorkersActivity
Time
MeasuredSoundLevel
Millingmachine

6:00a.m.8:00a.m.

95dBA

Breakroom

8:00a.m.8:15a.m.

69dBA

Partsdepartment

8:15a.m.11:15a.m.

78dBA

Lunch
(inbreakroom,45min.)

11:15a.m.12:00noon

69dBA

Millingassist
12:00noon3:00p.m.
90dBA

Todetermineiftheworkersnoiseexposureexceedsa90dBATWA,usethepreviousequation.Because
thenoiselevelsinthebreakroom(69dBA)andpartsdepartment(78dBA)arebelow80dBA,these
periodsofthedayarenotincludedinthecalculation.Accordingtothechartabove,workersare
permittedtobeexposedto95dBAfor4hoursperdayand90dBAfor8hoursperday.Calculatethe
ratioofactualexposuredurationtopermissibleexposuredurationforeachtimesegmentandadd
them:2/4+3/8=7/8.Theresultingvalue(7/8)islessthan1;therefore,thisworkersexposuredoesnot
exceedthe90dBATWA.However,aseparatecalculationwouldberequiredtodetermineifahearing
conservationprogramisrequired.

B.5
CalculatingtheEquivalentAWeightedSoundLevel(LA)
Occasionally,itisnecessarytoconvertasetofoctavebandsoundpressurelevelsintoanequivalentA
weightedsoundlevel.ThisiseasilydonebyapplyingtheAscalecorrectionfactorsfortheninestandard
octavecenterfrequenciesandcombiningthecorrectedvaluesbydecibeladdition.TheAscale
correctionfactorsarethevaluesoftheAweightingnetworkatthecenterofeachparticularoctave
band.ThevaluederivedbycombiningthecorrectedvaluesforeachoctavebandisdesignatedtheA
weightedsoundlevel(dBA).

B-3

Example:

OctaveBandCenter
Frequency(Hz)

ExampleLp(dB)

AScaleCorrection
Factor(dB)*

CorrectedValues
(dB)**

31.5

94

39

55

63

95

26

69

125

92

16

76

250

95

86

500

97

94

1,000

97

97

2,000

102

+1

103

4,000

97

+1

98

8,000

92

91

* LookuponAweightednetworkchartforeachvalueLp.
** LpcorrectedtotheAscale=Li.

TheAweightedsoundleveliscalculatedbycombiningthecorrectedbandlevels:
LA=10log10( 10

)=10log(105.5+106.9+107.6+108.6+109.4+109.7+1010.3+109.8+109.1)=105
dBA

WhereLAistheAweightedsoundlevelandLiisthecorrecteddecibellevelvalueforeachindividual
octaveband.

B-4

B.6

CalculatingSoundPressureLevelataDistance

Ifasoundisgeneratedatapointsourceinafreefield,meaningtherearenowallsorotherobstructions,
thesoundpressurelevel,Lp,willbereducedby6dBeachtimethedistancefromthenoisesourceis
doubled.Alternatively,Lpwillincreaseby6dBinafreefieldeachtimethedistancetothenoisesource
ishalved.Considerthefollowingexample:
d2

d1

Generator
Surveyor

0 ft

50ft
25ft

100ft

200ft

Example:Aworkerissurveyinganopenfield,whichhasadieselgeneratorrunninginthemiddleofit.
Theworkeris100ftfromthegeneratorandisexposedtoanoiselevelof85dBA.Whentheworkeris
25ftfromthegenerator,thenoiselevelwillbe97dBA.At200ftfromthegeneratortheworkerwillbe
exposedtoanoiselevelof79dBA.
Calculatingthesoundpressurelevelataspecificdistancefromanoisesourceisoftenuseful.The
followingequationallowsonetocalculatethesoundpressurelevelatanydistancefromanoisesource
inafreefield:
Lpd2=Lpd1+20log(d1/d2)
WhereLpd2isthesoundpressurelevelatthenewdistancefromthenoisesource,Lpd1isthesound
pressurelevelattheoriginaldistance,d1istheoriginaldistance,andd2isthenewdistance.
Example:Thesoundpressurelevelofanaircraftengineinthemiddleofanopenrunwayis120dBAata
distanceof50ftfromthereceiver.Thesoundpressurelevelatadistanceof80ftiscalculatedusingthe
equationabove.Lpd1is120dBA,d1is50ft,andd2is80ft.Therefore,Lpd2is120+20log(50/80),which
is116dBA.
B.7

ReducingtheActionLevelforExtendedWorkshifts

Ifaworkerworkslongerthanan8hourshift,theactionlevel(AL)forhearingconservationisreduced
proportionallyfrom85dBAusingthefollowingequation:
16.61 log

50
12.5

B-5

90

Example:Aworkerworksa10.75hourshiftinacarpartsmanufacturingplant.Whatwillbethe
workersreducedAL?
16.61 log
B.8

50
12.5 10.75

90

82.9

ConvertingaSingleDoseMeasurementtoan8hourTWASoundLevel

Adosemeasurementcanbeconvertedtoan8hourTWAsoundlevelusingthefollowingequation:
16.61 log

100

90

WherethedoseisapercentageandtheTWAisonanAweightedscale.
Afactoryhiresahealthandsafetyconsultanttomeasurethenoiseexposureoftheworkers.The
consultantwritesareportthatstatesthatworkersareexposedtoa183%dose,accordingtothegeneral
industrystandard,CFR291910.95.Convertthisdoseintoan8hourTWA.
16.61 log

183
100

B-6

90

94.4