What is a decibel (dB) exactly?
The decibel is a unit which, in the field of computers, is most commonly used to measure noise, in many cases coming from fans. A more specific term than noise would be sound pressure level (SPL). The unit its self is 1/10th of a Bel, named for Alexander Graham Bell, but for some reason not using the last consonant in his name. The decibel scale is a logarithmic scale, meaning it is based on a base 10 logarithm. I won’t bother to try and explain logarithms for those who don’t know, but in short this means that 50dB is not twice but much much more than 25 dB. This is because with a logarithmic scale, as the value gets bigger the increments get bigger, since it is exponential growth. 0dB is the threshold of human hearing (quietest sound a human can hear). 10 dB is 10 times stronger than the threshold, 20dB is 10*10 times stronger, 30dB is 10*10*10 times stronger…get the idea? dB means 10^(dB level/10) times louder than the quietest sound a human can hear. Usually you will see manufactu
