![]() ![]() The first thing to understand about decibels is that they are not units of measurement. It is almost never used, as the deci-bel (1/10 of a Bel, since "deci" is the SI prefix meaning "one-tenth") is far more convenient. The official unit is the Bel, which is an order of magnitude or a power of ten, a single unit in the logarithmic number system. The unit they invented was initially called the Transmission Unit (TU) but was quickly renamed to the decibel (dB), in honor of telecommunications pioneer Alexander Graham Bell. This decibel unit allowed engineers to eliminate the previously-required complex calculations, and instead use simple addition. To simplify these calculations, Bell Telephone Labs invented the decibel for describing the magnitude of power loss. Predicting and measuring the performance and efficiency of these long-distance transmission lines involved complex calculations, especially when summing the power loss over multiple segments of long-distance transmission cables. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, telegraph and telephone lines were quickly circling the globe. While decibels are most commonly thought of as describing sound volume, one might be surprised to learn that the origins of the decibel trace back to measuring electrical power loss over long-distance transmission cables. This article aims to describe decibels in an easy-to-understand way, and help to avoid common misunderstandings surrounding decibels. However, decibels are frequently misunderstood because they aren't particularly intuitive, and the underlying math behind decibels is not just everyday arithmetic. Which units are 10log and which are 20log?ĭecibels are a fundamental way for us to measure various electrical and acoustical quantities that are associated with sound.The decibel is not a unit of measurement.
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