Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 23, 2026
An Assessment Method and Toolkit to Evaluate Keyboard Design on Smartphones
Published on: October 5, 2020
Evaluation of smartphone sound measurement applications
Chucri A Kardous1, Peter B Shaw1
1National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 4676 Columbia Parkway, Cincinnati, Ohio 45226 ckardous@cdc.gov, pbs3@cdc.gov.
None:
This study reports on the accuracy of smartphone sound measurement applications (apps) and whether they can be appropriately employed for occupational noise measurements. A representative sample of smartphones and tablets on various platforms were acquired, more than 130 iOS apps were evaluated but only 10 apps met our selection criteria. Only 4 out of 62 Android apps were tested. The results showed two apps with mean differences of 0.07 dB (unweighted) and -0.52 dB (A-weighted) from the reference values. Two other apps had mean differences within ±2 dB. The study suggests that certain apps may be appropriate for use in occupational noise measurements.
Related Concept Videos
00:53Sound Intensity Level
The human ear can perceive an extensive range of sound intensity, necessitating the use of the logarithmic scale to define a physical quantity—the intensity level. It is a ratio of two intensities and...
01:05Intensity and Pressure of Sound Waves
Unlike the time average of a sinusoidal term, which is zero since it is positive...
01:06Echo
Imagine the sound is reflected back to the ears. Assuming that the source is very close to the human, the difference between hearing the two sounds—the emitted sound and the reflected sound—may be more than the minimum time for perceiving distinct sounds. If this is the case,...
00:58Sound Intensity