Preferred sound level for watching TV programs

How to use this database

Outline

This database presents, in graphical form, the average sound pressure levels of various TV programs at which young and older adults hear them as comfortably loud.

Parameters

(A) Age: Input the age of the TV viewer from 20 years to 90 years in integers.

About this database

This database presents the average A-weighted sound pressure levels, in decibels, of 16 TV programs in eight genres at which 42 otologically normal persons aged 20–80 years and older listened so that the sound program was comfortably loud for them.

The sound level of the TV program is assumed to increase linearly with the age of viewers. The 95 percent confidence interval indicates an interval in which the average sound level falls at a probability of 95 percent when measurements are conducted repeatedly under the same conditions. The interval does not reflect the magnitude of individual differences in adjusted sound levels per se.

Details of measurement methods are described in Reference [1].

References

[1] Kurakata, K., Kuba, Y., Kizuka, T., and Kuchinomachi Y., "Relationship between hearing levels of the elderly and preferred volume levels of television," Japanese Journal of Ergonomics 35(3), 169–176 (1999, in Japanese).