Word: db
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...code's real importance lies in setting strict, quantifiable limits on the most offensive and easily controlled city sounds: the cacophony of machinery. The limits are measured in decibels on a logarithmic scale that runs from the threshold of hearing (1) through the level of hearing impairment (85 db, if continuous) to that of acute pain (135 db). (By comparison, normal conversation registers at about 55 db, a vacuum cleaner at 70 db, and a jet taking off at 118 db.) If quieter machinery does not yet exist, or is not now used in New York, the code requires...
...vehicles moving up to 35 m.p.h., the racket of engine, muffler and tires must not exceed 86 db in trucks, 82 db in motorcycles and 76 db in cars...
...compressors: 90 db by 1973, 80 db...
After the dance, the kids' hearing was tested again. Despite the youthful resiliency of their inner ears, all had suffered at least temporary hearing impairment, with the average loss at about 11 db. One boy showed a 35-db loss. The greatest damage was in the high-frequency speech range, involving consonantal sounds, similar to the loss felt by oldsters who complain that "everybody mumbles nowadays...
...James Jerger and his wife Susan, who is also his research assistant at the Houston Speech and Hearing Center, got similar results after testing the members of a five-man combo. One player had a 50-db temporary loss, and three had already suffered a slight but permanent loss, although none was older than...