How do I know how loud a fan is based on its noise specification (in decibels or dB)?
Ans: In acoustics, the decibel is used as an absolute indicator of sound power per unit area. Abbreviated as “dB”, this measurement is defined as the power per unit surface area. To give you an idea of scale, 0dB is the threshold of human hearing and 120-140dB is the threshold of pain. For the purpose of CPU coolers, case fans, hard drive coolers etc, many users have noted that the actual decibel specification of the device has limited correlation to the physical noise produced by a fan – this has to do with standards in measurement and also due to how fans generate noise in the first place.
