Press Release: SoundMeter turns the iPhone into a handheld sound level meter

by Eric March on August 13, 2008 at 2:13 pm

This one is interesting. We keep hearing lots of apps out there for the jet setting businessman, the armchair musician, the doctors and diagnosticians — but there’s not much out there for audio engineers and people whose job requires them to take sound measurements. It appears that Faber Acoustical, owing to their discovery that the iPhone 3G has a remarkably flat frequency response (which is important for accuracy in measurements), wants to change that.

Santaquin, Utah – By popular demand, Faber Acoustical’s latest iPhone app, SoundMeter, turns the iPhone into a handheld sound level meter. The iPhone’s built-in and headset microphones exhibit a frequency response which is flat enough to make them suitable for basic sound level measurements.

SoundMeter measures average sound levels with fast, slow, and impulse time weightings. Peak, maximum, and equivalent sound levels are also available. All sound levels may be measured with Flat, A, or C frequency weighting.

Since SoundMeter has not been shown to meet ANSI or IEC standards for precision sound level meters, it is an excellent alternative to other inexpensive handheld meters for home or hobbyist use. Due to bandwidth and frequency response limitations, SoundMeter is not recommended for use with the built-in microphone of first-generation iPhones. For best results, SoundMeter should be calibrated before use.

Pricing and Availability:
SoundMeter is now available for download on the iPhone App Store for $19.99 USD. More information on SoundMeter can be found at Faber Acoustical’s website.

Faber Acoustical
SoundMeter
App Store Link
Screenshot

Faber Acoustical Services and Technologies provides cost effective tools for acoustical instrumentation, analysis, and education. Faber Acoustical’s expertise include acoustical measurements, active noise control (sometimes referred to as active noise cancellation or ANC), mixed-signal circuit design, digital signal processing (DSP), adaptive filtering, and embedded DSP and desktop software design.

Okay, so it’s not standards-approved, nor does it exhibit levels of precision equivalent (or even close) to the same degree as expensive professional equipment — that should probably go without saying; this is, after all, a phone. It has been found, however, to provide enough accuracy to rival hobbyist-class sound meters, so if what you require doesn’t require extreme precision then this looks like it will make a great alternative that’s cheaper and obviates the need to carry around extra hardware.

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Posted in Application Related, Uncategorized, iPhone 3G