[SML] Decibel Meter App

[mouse at fieldmousepro.com]

Out of curiosity, what's your use case? The reason I ask is that cell 
phone dB meters are mostly a novelty. There are a few circumstances 
where a phone app is useful, but they're kinda specific. If you need a 
measurement that's halfway accurate, get a handheld SPL meter. The cheap 
ones are actually pretty decent.

The place where cell phone SPL meters usually break down is that they're 
dependant on the phone's hardware & operating system to give the app 
it's data. The microphones in a cell phone are incredibly tiny, 
optimized for voice frequencies, and typically start to distort at high 
volumes. Also, the phone might or might not have some signal processing 
on the audio (like compression or nose reduction) before it hands it off 
to other apps. It's really a crap shoot if you'll get good results, and 
each phone is different.

In full disclosure, the other reason I dislike cell phone meters is that 
they're usually foisted on me by angry people who feel that the sound is 
too loud, and they're using the numbers on their app as a bludgeon.

Stephen (the other one).


Stephen E Rees wrote:
> Does anyone know of a phone app available that is reasonably accurate
> and affordable?