Emergine noise measurement

Good morning,

I have recorded with audacitiy + Zoom H1 noise at home. There is on the recording the ambient noise which is very low a domestic noise (peak noise every few seconds : dilatiton problem in hot water pipes).

I would like to asses in db the extra noise ? According to local regulations it seems there is a problem il the noise increases of 3db to 5 db. I also would like to asses the spectrum.

Any clue ?

Regards

There is as “wave stats” plugin for Audacity that will give you the RMS A-Weighted value
for a selection in dB. I think this is probably what you are after. You want to subtract
the RMS value of the normal background from the RMS value when the noise is present.

To plot the spectrum you use the “Analyze → Plot spectrum” after selecting a sample of the
recorded audio (you’ll probably want to do this twice, once with the normal background
level and one when the noise is present).

According to local regulations it seems there is a problem il the noise increases of 3db to 5 db.

That seems really surprising… 3-5 db is generally considered to be about the minimum perceptible
change in sound level.