Apple Watch vs Concertina Decibels

[Chris Ghent]

On 2/3/2023 at 1:47 PM, Steve Schulteis said:

 

A couple corrections - half loudness results in a 3 decibel drop, not half the decibels. Logarithmic scales are weird like that. Second, inverse square law means doubling the distance should reduce the volume to one quarter. Taken together, doubling the distance results in a 6 dB drop in volume.

 

The final point of that paragraph is a good one, though - the watch is much closer to the sound than your ear. It might be worth setting it on your shoulder while you play to see what it reads in that position.

Steve, about decibels; I knew that and perhaps expressed it clumsily but I said the level would halve, not the number because I didn’t want to introduce a concept such as a logarithmic scale into a simple discussion.  And the level drop, say three inches from the concertina to the watch, so move the watch to six inches away, sound level halves, another foot it halves again so it is a quarter of what it was and your watch is about as far away as your ear.  

[Steve Schulteis]

1 hour ago, Chris Ghent said:

Steve, about decibels; I knew that and perhaps expressed it clumsily but I said the level would halve, not the number because I didn’t want to introduce a concept such as a logarithmic scale into a simple discussion.  And the level drop, say three inches from the concertina to the watch, so move the watch to six inches away, sound level halves, another foot it halves again so it is a quarter of what it was and your watch is about as far away as your ear.  

 

I figured you knew and it was either a typo or a misunderstanding on my part. I'm not sure I follow your math for the sound level here, but I'm not going to think about it too hard. This is the sort of thing I'd rather measure empirically anyway.

[a4naught]

As a follow up, I did place my watch on my shoulder for a bit, to see if it would "go off" with its decibel warning. It never did. When I forget, and don't take it off prior to playing, it goes off. Every single time. Then, the hearing study that I agreed to participate in asks me about whether I will take evasive action, essentially. Alas, there is no "comment" section to the studies, leading me to suspect I am now in the "damn my hearing" group of the sea of collected user data. Oh well.

[hjcjones]

Have you tried musicians earplugs? These reduce the volume without muffling or distorting the sound

[a4naught]

@hjcjones I used them for most of my professional stagehand career, but I am not eager to have to use them again if not absolutely necessary as even custom plugs end up bothering my princess ear canals no matter how well fit. Once I saw that the watch would never be set off once I placed it on my shoulder, I  put my fears to rest on that account. I guess I  should maybe test the watch on my fiddle, right next to my left ear, as that is quite loud as well (according to OSHA listings that raised my eyebrows after a lifetime of playing that instrument. Because my hearing loss is one of those idiopathic mysteries to all the audiologists I have seen, I'm not sure being too concerned without evidence is a great way to live my life at this point. If I were a GHP'er or drummer, I would be forced to contend.

[David Barnert]

22 hours ago, a4naught said:

As a follow up, I did place my watch on my shoulder...

 

Are you sure the sound level monitoring function works properly on your shoulder? When I take my Apple Watch off my wrist it goes into “Lock” mode. I don’t think I have an app on mine that monitors decibel levels (certainly it’s never warned me of excesses). Does such an app work in Lock mode? Unlocking the watch while it’s on your shoulder would be pretty tricky without enlisting the help of someone who can see the unlocking keypad on the watch face without removing it from your shoulder. It might be easier to hold your wrist (with watch on) near your ear and have somebody else play the concertina in front of your chest where you usually play it.

[a4naught]

Huh. Damn. Good question. Thanks for posting this. Guess I need to go out and see if I can find the answer to that question.The environmental sound monitoring is part of the Health app that is native, not a separate app. You can turn it on or or and set the level that you want it to warn you about. It is not on by default. I also participate in a study through the health app that draws upon those measurements.

[David Barnert]

15 minutes ago, a4naught said:

Guess I need to go out and see if I can find the answer to that question.

 

Easy enough to do...

 

Take the watch off and put it back on without unlocking it. Then play the concertina and see if it goes off. Or set it down on a table right next to where you are playing.

[a4naught]

Good idea. In the interim I’ve used an app called NIOSH dB meter and it shows some pretty loud highs (110dB), but time weighted not nearly as high as the watch in the “blast zone”.