Acoustics and the smartphone
Rhys Brown, Lee Evans · 2011
With the rapid increase in the use of smartphones such as the Apple iPhone TM and Android TM -based phones, a range of low cost acoustic tools are now available to acoustic professionals and the general public. This paper explores some of the software tools currently available for smartphone devices, evaluates their measurement accuracy and discusses their potential place in the acoustic professionals testing and analysis kit. The results of several experiments comparing the results from ‘traditional’ sound level meters and smartphones are presented. Tested scenarios include sound pressure measurements from various sources and room acoustic measurements. A review of the shortfalls of the smartphone based tools currently available is also undertaken. The results of the study show that these new devices can provide useful results under some measurement conditions. However there is as yet no substitute for a sound level meter designed and calibrated in accordance with the relevant international standards.