A subjective definition of noise could be “unwanted sound”. What is noise to one person is just entertainment to another. Ask two persons of different age what they think about Rap music, for instance. From a scientific perspective noise is a series of pressure waves.

From a legal standpoint the definition of noise is different. The best practice exposure level is 85 dB for all workers averaged over an 8 hour period.

The decibel scale is a logarithmic scale, which means that the scale is not linear, and we really have a hard time relating to the numbers. For example, an increase in the noise level of 10 dB means a ten fold increase in the actual noise level!

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