History of the sound level meter in standards

Abstract

In 1932, the Acoustical Society of America started work on the first American Standards Association standard for sound level meters. The purpose was to create a set of standards for sound level meters “such that, if a given noise of a general character is measured with any meter designed in accordance with the standards, the result will be substantially the same as that which would be obtained with any other similarly designed meter.” The standard that resulted, Z 24.3 1936 was the first of many that trace the development of the sound level meter over the past 86 years. This paper follows the history and development of the sound level meter in the original American Standards Association and subsequent American National Standards Institute standards: Z 24.3 1944, S1.4 1961, S1.4 1971, 1.4 1983, and S1.4 2014. During that time the sound level meter has shrunk from a more than 100 pound, vacuum tube machine to a modern the modern, lightweight meter. The standard, however, has grown from a mere 11 pages in 1936 to 50 pages in 2014.