Development Suggestions

Matt Stearns

Hi, I just bought the trio of applications for the iPhone, and I'm quite pleased so far.  A couple of design things for SoundMeter:
First, calibration needs to be hidden further (I'd suggest at least two finger pokes before it changes parameters).  It's far too easy to hit that big calibration button, and by then it's too late, parameters are already changed.  Uninstalling and reinstalling to get back to default is a bad work around.  I'm not going to want to calibrate this very frequently.  I want to calibrate once every few months, so hiding the calibration tool a little would be far better for me.  I've only had the application two days and I've accidentally hit calibrate twice.  At the very least, make an "options page" or "tools menu" with "calibration" and "restore factory mic defaults" as options.
Second, I do live sound for outdoor concerts where the all important decibel limit is defined as "A weighted (dBA), averaged over one minute".  This means I can peak above the limit momentarily as long as the one minute average stays under the limit.  What would be very helpful to me is to have an option in the Leq mode to either refresh/restart the average every minute on the minute, or to set the average time frame (in this case at one minute) and have the average reflect the real-time previous minute average (continually rolling in that defined time frame).
What a fine tool that would be for me!
In any case, I'm happy with the products so far, keep up the good work, and thanks for the feedback opportunity.
Cheers,
Matt

benfaber

Matt,

Thank you for your feedback.  We'll take your suggestions into consideration.

Ben

paniolo

Great application! A couple of feature requests:

1. Provide a date/time stamp either as a window on the measurement screen or applied when the camera function is activated.

2. This one might not be practical, but a similar feature for current GPS location would be useful.

in2muzikk

Is it possible for this sound level meter to measure sounds over 105db?  I was hoping to use it in nightclubs to see whether the sound level attenuated by earplugs is safe or not.

Is the 105db cap a technical limitation of the iPhone or the software?

Also, for every additional 3db over 85db, the maximimum exposure time before potential hearing damage is cut in half, so if calibrated to another meter, would error margin be much more than 3db at higher volumes (say 95db+)? 

Lastly, does anyone know if the iPhone's microphone might be damaged by recording sound levels typical of a nightclub, say in the 120-130db range? 

benfaber

Is it possible for this sound level meter to measure sounds over 105db?

SoundMeter does not limit the range of sound levels it can measure. However, when working with the built-in mic, or a headset mic, the input signal will clip when the mic is exposed to peak sound levels as low as 105 dB, or 100 dB, respectively.
Higher sound levels could be measured by connecting an external microphone to a dock connector input device.

would error margin be much more than 3db at higher volumes (say 95db+)? 

Since the input signal will begin to clip at 105 dB, peak, you can expect errors in the average sound level measurement once it exceeds 95 dB (the clip indicator will help you know when there's a problem).

Lastly, does anyone know if the iPhone's microphone might be damaged by recording sound levels typical of a nightclub, say in the 120-130db range?

This seems unlikely. The amount of exposure the mic can handle is the same whether you're running SoundMeter on your iPhone or your iPhone is just resting in your pocket.

Ben

DANUK1511

Hi there

I have been using you sound meter for a while.

I really like it and usually leave it on my board when visiting engineers turn up.

I was wondering if in the future there will be any way of linking to my computer (mac) to record the measurements over time (every minute etc) this would be useful as a record for concerts where we could send promoters proof of levels etc...

thanks for your help

dan

PeterHa

+1 for the suggestion for a preset averaging time for Leq measurements.

Perhaps fixed averaging time could be switched on or off in the SLM options (default being the existing off) with a user entry box for the averaging time. It would be useful to be easily able to set 10 s, 20 s, 30 s, 1 min, 1 h, 4 h, 8 h as the averaging times.

Peter

PeterHa

I have a request for the removal of a feature!  :-o Please remove the Impulse time-weighting. It's not a good indicator of subjective response; people should be using peak sound level to characterize impulsive sound sources.

Peter