Vernier Tech Info Library TIL #656

Question

What are the units (of pressure) that you use with your microphones?

Answer

We can only treat the pressure measurements as relative. There are too many factors involved to allow us to come up with actual pressure units. What you see graphed is the voltage from the microphone, but that depends on the sensitivity of the microphone (which varies somewhat with frequency), and the gain of the amplifier (which varies somewhat with frequency).

If we were to calibrate the microphone, the units would be in kPa.

You cannot use the microphone to measure loudness in dB.

Created by: dvernier on February 15 2000
Last updated by: jgastineau on July 16 2004