Designing sound system in-band headroom based on expected difference between C- and A-weighted levels

van Veen MSR, McCarthy B. Designing sound system in-band headroom based on expected difference between C- and A-weighted levels. In: AES Convention 152. Audio Engineering Society; 2022. Paper 670. Available from: https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=21731

@inproceedings{vanVeen2022_21731,
  author = {van Veen, Merlijn, Schwenke, Roger and McCarthy, Bob},
  title = {{Designing sound system in-band headroom based on expected difference between C- and A-weighted levels}},
  booktitle = {AES Convention 152},
  note = {Paper 670},
  year = {2022},
  month = may,
  publisher = {Audio Engineering Society},
  url = {https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=21731}
}

TY  - CPAPER
TI  - Designing sound system in-band headroom based on expected difference between C- and A-weighted levels
AU  - van Veen, Merlijn, Schwenke, Roger
AU  - McCarthy, Bob
T2  - AES Convention 152
M1  - Paper 670
PY  - 2022
DA  - 2022/05/06
UR  - https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=21731
PB  - Audio Engineering Society
LA  - en
AB  - Sound pressure level (SPL) is the standard metric for regulations regarding environmental noise exposure. Because performances are often regulated by their A-weighted sound level, it is tempting to think that A-weighted level should be the primary design consideration for sound system headroom. Because A-weighting disregards significant low-frequency energy, it is possible to create a wide variety of spectra with the same A-weighted level, but each having a different spectral shape and C-weighted level. While regulators correlate excessive A-weighted levels with hearing damage, A-weighted levels are less well correlated with community annoyance. The Netherlands has recognized this and created a permitting system incorporating the difference between C- and A-weighted sound levels (C-A) as a measure of low-frequency content. This Brief gives supporting evidence for the correlation between C-A levels and different musical genres and offers complementary design guidance corresponding to sound system headroom with emphasis on in-band levels.
ER  -