Decibel X:dB Sound Level Meter 4+

Years ago I lost my high tones from being in the music business, competitive shooting and hunting without ear protection, whch at the time was something not known to me. My daughter and wife finally got exasperated with my asking “Huh, what did you say?” So they had me go to an audiologist who determined I did have significant hearing loss of the high tones, literally crashing off the chart. Having compensated for 19 years, it was time for hearing aids. For $6,000, great improvement shown. I’m due for new aids, another $6K. So, for the past 10 years I have spoken with some 50-60 young folks who blast music in their vehicles. I put the DecibleX app on my iPhone and demonstrate that they are ranging from the 90s to over 120 decibels. They were unaware of the damage they were causing to themselves and in some instances their children. Everyone has been nice and thankful that I’ve brought this to their attention and saved them their hearing and some $$$. Let’s pass it on!!!

We are glad 😀 that our Decibel X suits your needs. Hope you continue having decent experiences with us, and yes we love hearing more stories from you!

Provided the app is calibrated properly when you set it up, it’s pretty accurate in isolated areas like calibrating a turn table or checking a receiver for accuracy. However, a bunch of unrelated sounds events taking place at the same time throws the app off. Instead of giving you an average for the space you’re in, it just fluctuates based on individual sounds it picks up. For example, I value my hearing because I’m a musician. When I go to loud concerts I wear earplugs.

At a recent Korn concert I wanted to decide if I was far enough away that I wouldn’t damage my hearing or leave the venue with ringing ears. I tried the app, but I got numbers from people talking behind me, the band, clapping, so I wasn’t able to get an accurate reading. The meter jumped from 50db to 80db at a Korn concert where I was about 100 feet from the stage. While it wasn’t hitting over 100db or heaven forbid 120db, I chose to wear earplugs and I was the only one in my group to not leave with ringing ears.

In summary, the app is really great for isolated spaces, but it has trouble handling multiple sounds from multiple sources and giving you a stable number to work with. I don’t recommend it for harm reduction at a concert event, but I do recommend it for checking your speaker levels, calibrating your receiver, or anything audio related that is in a quiet testing area.

Hi 👋 ! Thank you for your detailed feedback with both pros & cons of your experience with Decibel X. For you case, we consider that the issue possibly was due to the far distance to our app, and thus led to the incorrect measurement. We love to know more about your problem, could you share with us via the email contact@skypaw.com. Thank you for taking your precious time and reviewing our app.

The free version is likely the best app of its kind, and highly recommended. The only strike against it is that the premium version is subscription based, and a fairly expensive one at $4.99 per month. I suspect that for most casual users, this is far too expensive…I certainly wouldn’t pay that. I can understand subscriptions for something like a newspaper or periodical magazine, where content is changing, but not for something that provides an essentially fixed functionality. This kind of app is particularly suitable to one time purchase of premium functionality.

SUGGESTION TO DEVELOPERS
Create a reasonably priced onetime purchase option If you keep a subscription, reduce the cost considerably. You may be surprised how many more paid users you’d have, if you do this.

Thank you for your kind words. We are glad that you like our App.
If you want to find the one-time paid version.
You can find "Decibel X PRO: dBA Noise Meter" on AppStore or via this link https://apps.apple.com/us/app/decibel-x-pro-dba-noise-meter/id1257651611