sound intensity
Sign in to saveAlso known as sound energy flux density, sound power density
instantaneous product of sound pressure and particle velocity
Key facts
- Characteristic
- Symbols
- Sound pressure
- p , SPL, L PA
- Particle velocity
- v , SVL
- Particle displacement
- δ
- Sound intensity
- I , SIL
- Sound power
- P , SWL, L WA
- Sound energy
- W
- Sound energy density
- w
- Sound exposure
- E , SEL
- Acoustic impedance
- Z
- Audio frequency
- AF
- Transmission loss
- TL
via Wikipedia infobox
~8 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Sound intensity, also known as acoustic intensity, is defined as the power carried by sound waves per unit area in a direction perpendicular to that area, also called the sound power density and the sound energy flux density. The SI unit of intensity, which includes sound intensity, is the watt per square meter (W/m). One application is the noise measurement of sound intensity in the air at a listener's location as a sound energy quantity.
Sound intensity is not the same physical quantity as sound pressure. Human hearing is sensitive to sound pressure which is related to sound intensity. In consumer audio electronics, the level differences are called "intensity" differences, but sound intensity is a specifically defined quantity and cannot be sensed by a simple microphone.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “sound intensity” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.