Speech level measurements obtained with a VU meter are subject to several sources of variability. The measuring procedure outlined here is designed to reduce variability introduced by the meter reader and so provide a reading more representative of average speech level. A sampling procedure is used in which controlled illumination renders the meter pointer visible only during brief intervals. Each time the dial is illuminated, the meter reader is required to determine whether or not the pointer exceeds a given deflection. If the pointer exceeds the critical value, the speech signal is attenuated by a fixed amount before the next trial. If the pointer lies below the critical value, the attenuation is reduced for the next trial. An up-down procedure with a regularly decreasing step size is used. The technique is such that the attenuation level converges rapidly on that value at which the pointer exceeds the critical value a fixed proportion of the time. Measurements obtained with this procedure have been found to be highly repeatable and relatively free of intersubject differences.