Quick one - Estimate headphone listening levels

[Wegi76]

Hi,

since people talk alot about their personal listening levels with headphones I wanted to get an idea how loud I would usually listen. Just wanted to verify with you if did the measurement OK with the stuff I have. So...

Is a UMIK-1 measurement mic + REWs SPL Meter + a piece of cardboard with a hole in the middle for the mic to get some seal "good enough" to estimate listening levels with headphones? I set the SPL Meter to A-weighted scale. Is that also the right choice when you guys refer to listening levels or do you use the C- or Z-weighted scale normally? (with bass-heavy music this y reads a lot louder obviousl)

Thank you.

 

[maverickronin]

That's good enough for figuring out short term averages.

The weighting to use depends on your purpose. If you want to make sure that you don't lose your hearing from listening too loud then use A weighting because it more closely mirrors the human ear's sensitivity.

If you're interested in actual SPL regardless of human perception then use Z.

 

[Wegi76]

Thanks @maverickronin. With a highly compressed pop song the difference in time-averaged soundlevel between dBA and dBZ reading was really drastic. Same song, same volume & Leq reading over a minute was ~72dBA vs ~86dBZ. Since this volume was already too loud for me and the dBa is the relevant one for the hearing protection aspect, I hope to be on the safe side. An Leq average of 69-70dBA feels loud, but not too loud for me.

Thanks again for the confirmation that the way&tools to measure were usable.