Assessment of noise levels

It is important to note that the decibel scale is such that a 3 dB rise in noise level represents a doubling of sound intensity i.e. 83 dB (A) is twice as loud as 80 dB (A). This means that the maximum exposure time at 80 dB(A) is 8 hours but at 95 dB(A) the maximum time is 15 minutes.

There are easy ways to tell if noise is too loud: -

• 60 dB(A) normal conversation
• 80 dB(A) raise your voice to people two metres away
• 90 dB(A) raise your voice to people one metre away
• 100 dB(A) if you must shout to talk to people when head to head
• 110 dB(A) if you must shout into the other person’s ear
• 120 dB(A) if you can’t hear yourself shouting