46.5k views
1 vote
A small home speaker produces 0.200 ~\text{W}0.200 W of acoustical power. (This is achieved, for example, by a 10-Watt speaker operating at 2% electrical efficiency). If the speaker projects sound uniformly in all directions, what is the loudness of the sound (in dB) at a distance of 0.668 ~\text{m}0.668 m from the speaker?

User Makavelli
by
4.8k points

1 Answer

5 votes

Final answer:

The loudness of the sound at a distance of 0.668 meters from the speaker is calculated using the sound intensity level in decibels formula, resulting in approximately 105.5 dB.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the loudness in decibels (dB) of the sound at a distance of 0.668 meters from the speaker, we can use the formula for sound intensity level (IL) in decibels:

IL(dB) = 10 × log10(I / I0)

Where:

  • I is the sound intensity in watts per meter squared (W/m²).
  • I0 is the reference intensity, which is considered the threshold of hearing and is 10-12 W/m².

Firstly, we need to calculate the intensity I of the sound at the distance from the speaker:

I = P / (4 × π × r²)

Where:

  • P is the acoustical power in watts (0.200 W).
  • r is the distance from the speaker in meters (0.668 m).

Plugging these values into the formula gives us:

I = 0.200 W / (4 × π × (0.668 m)2) = 0.200 W / (4 × 3.14159 × 0.446224) = 0.200 W / 5.5911 m² = 0.0358 W/m²

Now, we can calculate the loudness at the distance of 0.668 m:

IL(dB) = 10 × log10(0.0358 W/m² / 10-12 W/m²) = 10 × log10(3.58 × 1010)

This results in a loudness of:

IL(dB) = 10 × (10 + log10(3.58)) = 10 × (10 + 0.5539) = 105.539 dB

Therefore, the loudness of the sound at a distance of 0.668 meters from the speaker is approximately 105.5 dB.

User Aleksey Bilogur
by
5.0k points