decibel
pronunciation
How to pronounce decibel in British English:
UK [ˈdesɪbel]
How to pronounce decibel in American English:
US [ˈdesɪbel]
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- Noun:
- a logarithmic unit of sound intensity; 10 times the logarithm of the ratio of the sound intensity to some reference intensity
Word Origin
- decibel (n.)
- 1928, from deci- + bel (n.). Progress in science and industry is constantly demanding new terms and one of the latest of these is the word "decibel," coined by telephone engineers to describe the efficiency of telephone circuits. It is a substitute for the phrase "transmission unit." The actual unit decided upon was first called "bel," after the inventor of the telephone. The bel, however, is larger than is needed in practice, and, therefore, a unit one-tenth as large was adopted by engineers and named the decibel. ["Popular Mechanics," May 1929]
Example
- 1. Widenoise is an iphone application that samples decibel noise levels , displaying them on an interactive map .
- 2. The winner could then blast the loser with an intense noise through a headset , choosing the decibel level and duration .
- 3. A danish study found a 27 percent increase in stroke risk for every 10 decibel increase in street noise for those over 65 .
- 4. The decibel range for five bars of reception is so large because precise measurement in such an area is less important than in areas with poor reception .
- 5. Obviously , you 'd wonder why the iphone wouldn 't measure signal in a more linear fashion , where the decibel value for each bar is equal .