Question 1

How accurate is an online decibel meter?

Accepted Answer

Browser-based meters give a good relative reading of loudness (changes in sound level) but are not calibrated to a true SPL reference. The absolute dB value depends on your microphone sensitivity and gain. For professional measurement you need a calibrated sound level meter; for comparing sources or monitoring noise levels at home, this tool works well.

Question 2

What do common decibel levels sound like?

Accepted Answer

30 dB is a whisper, 60 dB a normal conversation, 70 dB a vacuum cleaner, 85 dB heavy traffic (the threshold of hearing damage with prolonged exposure), 100 dB a concert, and 120 dB is the threshold of pain.

Question 3

Does the tool send my audio to a server?

Accepted Answer

No. All audio analysis happens entirely in your browser via the Web Audio API. The microphone stream never leaves your device. Nothing is recorded or uploaded.

Question 4

What is A-weighting?

Accepted Answer

A-weighting adjusts the measured level to match how the human ear perceives loudness at different frequencies. Humans are less sensitive to very low and very high frequencies, so A-weighting reduces their contribution — it is the standard for environmental noise measurement and is shown as dB(A).