NOISE MEASUREMENTS ABOARD SHIP
H. A. Simms · Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers · 1938
With the increasing interest which engineers are feeling in the matter of noise and its control, accurate comparative and relative measurement of noise has become the real crux of the problem. While the human ear is a marvelous instrument, it differs widely in different people, and even in the same person the two ears will usually vary considerably in sensitivity. To add to this basic difficulty, our brains take a hand and the impulses received are translated with a far from impersonal accuracy, for we often hear what we want or expect to hear in a manner quite discouraging to scientific exactness. The author discusses this problem, the scale of measurement which is slowly being standardised, and the limitations of the present day instruments; and finally undertakes to present a code which can be followed by specialists working in different geographical locations so that the results which they obtain will be as free from instrument error and personal prejudice as is humanly possible.