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Garthrr
 
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Default Isn't noise cumulative? a technical question

I'd like to try to clarify something for myself and any other dummies like me
who dont quite get this. I sometime read posts or articles where the writer
says that the noise figure of a particular peice of gear (for instance, a mic)
is less than something else (perhaps the noise of the room or another peice of
gear or whatever).
Someone might say (and they have) that the noise figure of a particular mic is
lower than the ambient noise in the room and therefore the mic noise is a
non-issue. I take this to mean that they are saying that the noise in the room
sort of swallows up the mic's self noise and nullifies (masks?) it.
Lets say for example that a mic has 22dBA self noise figure and that the room
has 40 dBA ambient noise. (excuse me if I am quantifying these figures wrongly)
I get the impression that the combination of these two noises added together
would not be 62dBA as would seem logical to me. If the noises did add together
in that way then I dont believe people would say not to worry about a mic's
self noise because the room is so much noisier. Instead they would be saying
that the mic's self noise is just as important in the 40dBA room as it would be
if the room noise was 20dBA.

So, I hope I'm getting the context for this question across, even in my clumsy
way. If I understood enough to ask it right I'd probably know the answer.

So, does the noise of different links in the chain combine in a linearly
additive way or is it more complicated than that? For the purpose of this
question can we set aside the issue of how much noise is actually problematic
or audible and can we just stick to the theoretical way in which noise combines
with other noise, all other things being equal?

Garth~


"I think the fact that music can come up a wire is a miracle."
Ed Cherney
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Ethan Winer
 
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Default Isn't noise cumulative? a technical question

Garth,

the noise figure of a particular mic is lower than the ambient noise in

the room and therefore the mic noise is a non-issue ... does the noise of
different links in the chain combine in a linearly additive way or is it
more complicated than that?

Great question. Noise does add, but when a little noise is added to a lot of
noise the louder version dominates. Noise from different sources does not
add the same way as static sound. For example, if you add two sine waves of
the same level, frequency, and phase, the sum is 6 dB louder than either.
But adding noise of the same level from two different sources is only 3 dB
louder. Or thereabouts - I'm not Mr. Math Guy. The reason is because the two
noise sources are not correlated.

More relevant to your question is what happens when you add two noise
sources when one is 10 dB louder than the other, or 20 dB louder, etc.
Again, I'm not a math guy so I don't have the formula in front of me (though
it's a very simple formula). But even 10 dB is enough of a difference that
adding them won't make the result much greater.

So in your case where the mike's noise is 22 and the room is 40, the sum is
like 40.1 or something. Certainly not 62! Another factor is the frequency
distribution. Depending on where you live, room ambient noise is often made
up of low frequency rumble as well as broadband hiss, unless you have
forced-air ventilation. Electronic hiss tends to have has more high
frequency content. So that too affects how the levels combine.

--Ethan


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Arny Krueger
 
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Default Isn't noise cumulative? a technical question

"Garthrr" wrote in message

I'd like to try to clarify something for myself and any other dummies
like me who dont quite get this. I sometime read posts or articles
where the writer says that the noise figure of a particular peice of
gear (for instance, a mic) is less than something else (perhaps the
noise of the room or another peice of gear or whatever).
Someone might say (and they have) that the noise figure of a
particular mic is lower than the ambient noise in the room and
therefore the mic noise is a non-issue. I take this to mean that they
are saying that the noise in the room sort of swallows up the mic's
self noise and nullifies (masks?) it. Lets say for example that a
mic has 22dBA self noise figure and that the room has 40 dBA ambient
noise. (excuse me if I am quantifying these figures wrongly) I get
the impression that the combination of these two noises added
together would not be 62dBA as would seem logical to me. If the
noises did add together in that way then I dont believe people would
say not to worry about a mic's self noise because the room is so much
noisier. Instead they would be saying that the mic's self noise is
just as important in the 40dBA room as it would be if the room noise
was 20dBA.


The correct way to add random uncorrelated noises is to convert the two dB
values into amplitude, and then take the geometric sum of the two.

I have a spread sheet that does this.

In your case the answer is 40.07 dB. IOW the contribution of the 22 dBA mic
noise is negligible.





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Garthrr
 
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Default Isn't noise cumulative? a technical question

In article , "Arny Krueger"
writes:

n your case the answer is 40.07 dB. IOW the contribution of the 22 dBA mic
noise is negligible.


Thanks Arny, it makes sense now.

Garth~


"I think the fact that music can come up a wire is a miracle."
Ed Cherney
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Garthrr
 
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Default Isn't noise cumulative? a technical question

In article , "Ethan Winer" ethan at
ethanwiner dot com writes:

So in your case where the mike's noise is 22 and the room is 40, the sum is
like 40.1 or something. Certainly not 62!


Yeah I knew it couldnt be, I just couldn't figure out why. That makes sense to
me now. Sure is great to be able to ask a question like this at 4AM and have an
answer by 4:30!
Thanks,
Garth


"I think the fact that music can come up a wire is a miracle."
Ed Cherney


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P Stamler
 
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Default Isn't noise cumulative? a technical question

A good rule of thumb is that if noise source #2 is about 10 dB less than noise
source #1 (9.89dB and some change, if you want to be more precise) it will
raise the combined noise by 1dB, all other factors being equal. Since that's
considered the "just noticeable difference" in this context, in practice any
time the second noise source is more than 10dB down from the first, as a rule
of thumb you don't have to worry about it.

Peace,
Paul
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William Sommerwerck
 
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Default Isn't noise cumulative? a technical question

Actually, 1dB is a 26% increase in power. So (assuming noise powers add
linearly), source #2 would actually have to be only 6dB down for a 1dB increase
in noise level.


A good rule of thumb is that if noise source #2 is about 10 dB less than noise
source #1 (9.89dB and some change, if you want to be more precise) it will
raise the combined noise by 1dB, all other factors being equal. Since that's
considered the "just noticeable difference" in this context, in practice any
time the second noise source is more than 10dB down from the first, as a
rule of thumb you don't have to worry about it.


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Arny Krueger
 
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Default Isn't noise cumulative? a technical question

"P Stamler" wrote in message


A good rule of thumb is that if noise source #2 is about 10 dB less
than noise source #1 (9.89dB and some change, if you want to be more
precise) it will raise the combined noise by 1dB, all other factors
being equal.


My handy-dandy spread sheet says that the contribution from a source 10 dB
smaller than the larger source is about 0.5 dB - actually more like 0.4 dB.

To be precise, if you mix a noise signal at -20 dB with a noise source
at -30 dB, the sum is -19.5861 dB.

This result is consistent at other levels, for example if you mix a noise
signal at -80 dB with a noise source at -90 dB, the sum is -79.5861 dB.

My estimate of a 0.5 dB increase is based on the fact that uncorrelated
noise is properly added geometrically, which involves taking the square root
of the sum of the squares.

To get a 1 dB increase you have to mix noises that are about 6 dB apart.




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Arny Krueger
 
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Default Isn't noise cumulative? a technical question

"P Stamler" wrote in message


Right you are, Bill and Arny. Sorry -- forgot to take a square root
while I was calculating. In reality, if signal #2 is 5.868dB or so
below signal #1, it will add 1dB to the cumulative noise. So anything
less than that, all things being equal, is not worth bothering with
or worrying about.


I agree that this is a good rule of thumb. Somehow I hadn't thought of the
problem exactly that way.

Of course one has to remember the underlying presumptions, one of which is
that both noises have the same spectral balance. In real life this is not
the case much of the time. If you mix two noises with significantly
different spectral balance (i.e., pink and white) the contribution of the
source with lower amplitude may be more or less audible.


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