Sound power level measurement of Sheng, a Chinese wind instrument

Abstract

Sheng is one of the Chinese traditional wind instruments. But its sound power level has never been carefully measured. In this paper, the sound power measurements of Sheng were performed for the first time in a reverberation chamber according to ISO standard and Chinese national standard. Two qualified musicians performed on their own instruments in the center of the reverberation chamber. The radiated sound energy and the dynamic ranges of the Sheng were investigated by four channel acoustic measuring equipments. Typical sound power values were obtained through averaging and the results were reported in this paper. It was showed that the mean forte sound power level can reach up to 98dB with a dynamic range of 22.5dB when music scale was performed. The method discussed here is valuable for the sound power measurements of other musical instruments. The measurement of the sound power radiated by national musical instruments lays foundations for the investigation into the acoustics of national music halls.