Sound Meter gives you deafeningly good insights

Fortunately, you see more and more about it in the media: Tinnitus. While some people go to concerts without earplugs and boldly claim that they really don’t mind hearing a little less well, they don’t realize that you can also get a completely different hearing damage, namely Tinnitus. tinnitus. A constant buzzing or ringing in your ears. To make you more aware of what you’re doing to your ears, you can use Sound Meter.

Measure decibels

Although the app is not so much inserted to protect your ears, it is there to make it clear that it is necessary. Unfortunately, it does not indicate that you are really in a place with far too many decibels: not in the form of a warning pop-up about hearing damage, but it does let you know with an arrow in red and by turning the entire screen orange (plus in text what type of noise it is), that you’re probably exposing your eardrums to way too much noise.

If you’re just using the app, it’s a bit of a shock: is even a little office noise already 60 decibels? Wow. It is not for nothing that a wake-up light, for example, can now also measure how much noise it is in the room: the quieter it is, the better it is for your sleep quality. You will notice that nowhere is it really 100 percent silent. The meter of Sound Meter goes up to 120 decibels and although you almost seem to reach that when you’re on the ‘office 60’, it’s really not easy to achieve. The maximum noise level at concerts, for example, is 103 decibels.

sound meter

Many people rely a lot on the government in this regard: If 103 decibels are allowed, then it must be good. However, if you look further, you know that this can already be extremely harmful to your ears. For example, Ziggo Dome writes: “In the Ziggo Dome, one can be exposed to noise levels above 80 dBA. Wearing hearing protection is your own responsibility. The management of the Ziggo Dome advises to use hearing protection in order to prevent hearing damage.”

Of course such a company also has to cover itself, but it hits the nail on the head. If you go well above ‘vacuuming’ level, you will really have to provide your ears with a good set of earplugs. Sound Meter can help you gain that insight. You can also use the app in a crazy upside down variation, depending on where the microphone is to pick up the sound. If you prefer no advertisements, you pay three euros to say goodbye to that. Although the ads are certainly not pretty, they are not disturbing: you don’t have to watch any videos, there is just a banner in the picture.

The app is also especially good in its simplicity. If you prefer white instead of dark mode, you can easily convert that and it is possible to save measurements, so that you can compare different concert halls, for example. Whether your partner’s snoring behavior depends on whether he or she lies differently, has drunk alcohol, is tired, and so on. The sound meter works quickly, so you have a quick insight into the decibels that fly around your ears.

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Do you use an app to provide insight into the decibels around you? If yes which one? Leave it now in the comments to this article.

Image source: Sandy Millar