Understanding the concepts of uncertainty, reproducibility, and repeatability and the application to acoustic testing

Abstract

The consideration of uncertainty in measurement has long been an important part of scientific measurement. As measurements became standardized and testing and measurement standards were developed, various forms of uncertainty were sometimes, but not always, considered. Understanding various forms of uncertainty and the basic concepts of uncertainty, reproducibility, and repeatability are important for testing even if the estimation of them is not directly part of the test standard. In this presentation, the concepts of uncertainty, reproducibility, and repeatability for acoustic testing are explained using the ASTM E90 test as an example for explanation.