A preliminary look at the acquisition of acoustic field data using selected smartphone apps

Abstract

Numerous smartphone applications exist that measure sound levels in the acoustic field. In some cases, these apps also provide additional acoustic data in the form of real-time spectral analysis. Yet, very few studies exist that have evaluated the validity of these apps for sound level measurement. Notably, these studies evaluated performance in the laboratory and only assessed the accuracy of the measurement of sound levels. Here, we present field-acquired data on the accuracy of dB level measurement and spectral analysis of a variety of smartphone apps for both Android and iOS platforms. We then discuss the feasibility of using these applications for field data acquisition.