Speech levels in decibels

[eyesgreendeaf]

I looked for some information on speech levels and found out some 'numbers'.

Vocal Effort dB(A)
Whispering 32
Soft 37
Relaxed 42
Normal (private) 47
Normal (public) 52
Raised 57
Loud 62
Very Loud 67
Shouting 72
Max. Shout 77

what are average speech levels in decibels ? Soft , average and loud ? You opinions?

A few links
http://www.kemt.fei.tuke.sk/Predmety...igibility.html

http://www.jimprice.com/prosound/db.htm

http://www.sengpielaudio.com/TableOf...sureLevels.htm

[Agil]

There is no way 77 is a max shout. You can easily scream much louder than that.

I have often been accused of yelling or talking too loud when I think I am not loud at all. A volume meter revealed I was regularly in the mid-to-high-70s. My goal was under 72 - preferably in the 60s - for normal volume. That was what a speech therapist told me. Of course, I was never able to stay in the 60s all the time, so I still have to put up with the "hearing aids will make you talk softer" crap ignorant people repeatedly insist. I doubt it because part of the speech problem is psychological.

[?tahW]

You didn't specify the distance
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/vo...vel-d_938.html
IIRC the standard test distance is 1 meter.

[seb]

Most of the numbers I've seen for normal speech db levels in normal conversation use a standard distance of 1 meter.

[Um bongo]

Originally Posted by seb

Most of the numbers I've seen for normal speech db levels in normal conversation use a standard distance of 1 meter.

The ones above look like a longer distance to me or they weren't measuring my voice

The other point is that there's no mention of which dB scale in use or whether they are peak or average values.