Hi

i have the app called 'Decibel' for my iPhone 4. How accurate are these things?

Is it worth getting a real db meter for rough readings?

Cheers

They're all useful tools but limited by the SPL handling of the mic. The built in mic starts to become compromised at only 100 dB so above that you'll want to use something more purpose built. I haven't used Decibel specifically but all of the Studio Six Digital stuff I've used has been, again within the built in mics limitations, stupid accurate.

for me it's more to do with making sure i'm monitoring at 85db or so, so that i don't get fatigued or problems with my ears on long sessions!

and also perhaps going outside and seeing how much sound might be leaking etc.

if it's over 100db then i'm already in trouble ;-)

hopefully it's accurate enough... doesn't the mic have a HPF on it though?

A thought occurred to me , I'd bet if you recorded something with your IPhone , you would hear problems and things amiss , those missing things might be a guide to it being unacceptable .
Got to say this is all [email protected] from the top of my head , don't even own an IPhone .

Here's an article showing tested response of the iOS devices' built in mics-

iPhone 4 Audio and Frequency Response Limitations « Faber Acoustical Blog

So as long as your room doesn't have any massive 5+ dB spikes below 150, I'd say you're fine using it as a quick and dirty mix level reference.

why mess around with something as important as measuring the spl in your mix room though?

$45 bucks gets you the standard SPL meter:

7-Range Analog Display Sound Level Meter : Sound Meters | RadioShack.com

yeah, good call. but i'm always carrying my iphone, and sometimes it's useful to know when my ears are being tortured a bit when i'm out and about...!

Old timer here, new account. Sorry to resurrect an old topic but I was looking for some sound apps for my work (entertainment/sporting events) and I found some relevant information that I think would be very helpful to the forum. There are several articles and studies out there, the most comprehensive is done by scientists at the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.

Evaluation of smartphone sound measurement applicationsa)

They looked at hundreds of apps, both iOS and Android. Found out that iOS apps SoundMeter by Faber Acoustics and SPLnFFT by Fabien Lefebvre are the most accurate and within 2 decibels of their type 1 sound level meter. Other apps that did well, Noise Hunter by inter.net2day and NoiSee by Noise Lab. Android apps didn't do so well.

There are a couple of other studies where SoundMeter and SPLnFFT show up, one done by Safety Awakenings and one by grad students at a couple of different universities, though none of those studies are peer-reviewed and not as thorough.

Finally, if anyone interested in an app for audio or professional work, get an app that allow you to calibrate to a known source and invest a bit of money in an external mic, there are some really good ones out there.

I know on a GS4, compared to real spl meter, the app is almost impossible to make it read over 90dB. Which makes it likely to do more harm than good!

What apps? I've been using mine for mixing at appropriate volumes but I always assumed it wasn't terribly accurate.

SPLnFFT from Fabien Lefebvre and SoundMeter from Faber Acoustical. Faber offers a whole slew of apps for the audio enthusiast, a bit pricey though.

I would say it probably would not be percise. since you are trying to make a consumer device do a funtion a percisely calibrated instrumentation device.

30 iPad Sound Measurement Apps Reviewed

Iphones measure like they're always on "A" weighting setting. So they are far more accurate if you want to know for example, how much you are hearing now in dbA. I didn't know the difference was so extreme until I used a real type 1 SPL meter. The floor noise coming from the low frequencies can build up A LOT. It was approximately a 20 db difference. Cheers.

I've never been able to measure lower than 'low 30s' on the Decibel app, even when i'm pretty sure it should be lower. Now on an iPhone 5, with the same results.

I'll check out some of the apps on that site with all the reviews - seems pretty exhaustive!