DecibelwerkQuick answer: A whisper is about 30 dB, normal conversation about 60 dB, a vacuum cleaner or traffic about 70 dB, a lawn mower 90 dB, earbuds at full volume 100 dB, a concert or car horn 110 dB, a jet taking off 120 dB and fireworks 140 dB. Hearing damage starts to add up from about 85 dB, depending on how long you’re exposed.
The chart
| Level | Sounds like | Safe per day (NIOSH) |
|---|---|---|
| 20 dB | Leaves rustling | No limit |
| 30 dB | A whisper | No limit |
| 40 dB | A quiet library | No limit |
| 50 dB | Moderate rainfall | No limit |
| 60 dB | Normal conversation, a dishwasher | No limit |
| 70 dB | Traffic, a vacuum cleaner | No limit |
| 80 dB | An alarm clock | No limit |
| 85 dB | A busy street at its loudest | 8 hours |
| 90 dB | A lawn mower, power tools, a train station | 2.5 hours |
| 100 dB | A snowmobile, earbuds at full volume | 15 minutes |
| 110 dB | A concert, a car horn, a sporting event | under 2 minutes |
| 120 dB | A jet taking off | about 9 seconds |
| 130 dB | A jackhammer, an ambulance siren | instant risk |
| 140 dB | Fireworks, a gunshot | instant risk |
Levels from 20 to 140 dB follow the American Academy of Audiology’s noise chart; the busy street and train station come from the US military’s Hearing Center of Excellence. Safe times use the NIOSH limit: 85 dBA for 8 hours, halved for every 3 dB louder. At 140 dB, OSHA’s limit for impulse noise, a single bang can harm hearing.
How to read decibels
Decibels don’t add up like ordinary numbers:
- +3 dB is double the sound energy. That’s why the safe time halves every 3 dB.
- +10 dB sounds about twice as loud to most people. A 70 dB vacuum seems twice as loud as 60 dB conversation.
- Distance matters. Outdoors, every doubling of distance from a single source drops the level by about 6 dB.
Most charts, including this one, give A-weighted levels (dBA), which reduce very low and very high frequencies the way your ears do. That’s the scale hearing limits use.
Measure your own sounds
Charts give typical values. Your lawn mower, your gym class or your neighbour’s subwoofer could be 10 dB either side. To get the real number:
- Use a meter app that reads the microphone without boosting quiet sounds: the free NIOSH Sound Level Meter, or Decibelwerk.
- Take the case off and hold the phone where your ears are, not right next to the source.
- Watch for at least 30 seconds and note the average (Leq) as well as the maximum.
Then put any reading into the free noise exposure calculator to see how long you can stay. For the limits explained in full, read how many decibels is too loud.