is this just anoying or can it cuase damamge?

[ScubaSteve404]

i recently decided to take a sample of the weird pitched tone in my high schools lunch room, chart will be attached below. the chart is roughly 37 seconds long and the frequency range is 0 Hz to 20 KHz and the noise is at roughly 17.5 KHz. one last thing, the tone seems to be there all day but idk for at night for hopefuly obvious reasons.

 

audio recorded with a samsung galaxy S9+ inside an otterbox phone case earlier today

 

edit: just realized i should add this context, the high frequency noise is yellow with some red and orange specs and the stuff at the bottum of the chart is green the rest is blue, light blue, or black

[bob345]

Its probably a bad or nearly dead florescent light ballast. Some brands make some horrendously annoying high pitch sounds when they are about to go. Not  harmful, just really annoying.

[ScubaSteve404]

thanks

[mr moose]

I am assuming it isn't that loud that you can't comfortably talk over it, in which case not harmful, just annoying.

 

Sounds become damaging when they reach a specific time/level threshold.  Usually rated in hours for a given dB (A weighted).  Or for a one off sound above 140dB (C weighted).

 

 

 

 

[ScubaSteve404]

18 hours ago, mr moose said:

I am assuming it isn't that loud that you can't comfortably talk over it, in which case not harmful, just annoying.

 

Sounds become damaging when they reach a specific time/level threshold.  Usually rated in hours for a given dB (A weighted).  Or for a one off sound above 140dB (C weighted).

 

 

 

 

someone can easily talk over it but its defiantly there, the fact that band representing the noise is yellow with some red and orange and the easily ignoble background noise is green, blue, light blue, and has specs of black in it indicates it has some strength vs the back ground noise, and it's intensity varies across the whole room, its a pretty big indoor spaces with a small over hang mostly to add access to the 2nd floor and, as of right now, the main gym.

[mr moose]

8 minutes ago, ScubaSteve404 said:

someone can easily talk over it but its defiantly there, the fact that band representing the noise is yellow with some red and orange and the easily ignoble background noise is green, blue, light blue, and has specs of black in it indicates it has some strength vs the back ground noise, and it's intensity varies across the whole room, its a pretty big indoor spaces with a small over hang mostly to add access to the 2nd floor and, as of right now, the main gym.

The difference in color on that graph is nothing to be concerned about, the graph is just representing that it is slightly louder than the background noise level, which is as you describe because if it wasn't slightly louder then some people wouldn't notice it. 

 

The other thing to keep in mind is that the color change in those graphs is tied to many unknowns like the software itself, the accuracy of the mic on the phone, the exact postion it was recorded and the way the device was held.   In other words the colour yellow might represent different intensities depending the datum used by the Fourier software (i.e does it decide the color according to a recorded range or does it have a set color for recorded values? and does the software apply A or C weighting?)

[ScubaSteve404]

40 minutes ago, mr moose said:

The difference in color on that graph is nothing to be concerned about, the graph is just representing that it is slightly louder than the background noise level, which is as you describe because if it wasn't slightly louder then some people wouldn't notice it. 

 

The other thing to keep in mind is that the color change in those graphs is tied to many unknowns like the software itself, the accuracy of the mic on the phone, the exact postion it was recorded and the way the device was held.   In other words the colour yellow might represent different intensities depending the datum used by the Fourier software (i.e does it decide the color according to a recorded range or does it have a set color for recorded values? and does the software apply A or C weighting?)

it doesn't look like it gives any specifics like that, it seems like the app based intensity on how intence on thing is to a nethor or use one thing's intensity as a reference point for everything else

[mr moose]

30 minutes ago, ScubaSteve404 said:

it doesn't look like it gives any specifics like that, it seems like the app based intensity on how intence on thing is to a nethor or use one thing's intensity as a reference point for everything else

Not many of them do,  Those sorts of apps are really only good for a quick reference.  

[Derkoli]

On 4/9/2019 at 7:55 AM, mr moose said:

I am assuming it isn't that loud that you can't comfortably talk over it, in which case not harmful, just annoying.

 

Sounds become damaging when they reach a specific time/level threshold.  Usually rated in hours for a given dB (A weighted).  Or for a one off sound above 140dB (C weighted).

 

 

 

 

 

On 4/10/2019 at 3:02 AM, ScubaSteve404 said:

someone can easily talk over it but its defiantly there, the fact that band representing the noise is yellow with some red and orange and the easily ignoble background noise is green, blue, light blue, and has specs of black in it indicates it has some strength vs the back ground noise, and it's intensity varies across the whole room, its a pretty big indoor spaces with a small over hang mostly to add access to the 2nd floor and, as of right now, the main gym.

This is probably the best chart for hearing damage: http://dangerousdecibels.org/education/information-center/decibel-exposure-time-guidelines/

[mr moose]

7 minutes ago, Derkoli said:

 

This is probably the best chart for hearing damage: http://dangerousdecibels.org/education/information-center/decibel-exposure-time-guidelines/

I tend to use the Australian occupation health and safety guidelines, they are pretty much the same all over the world and concise. 

[Derkoli]

Just now, mr moose said:

I tend to use the Australian occupation health and safety guidelines, they are pretty much the same all over the world and concise. 

I just use the dangerous decibles one as it autofills into my browser lol. also pretty accurate, my subwoofers playing at just under 115Db start to hurt my ears about 40 secs later or so.