Test and Measurement Forum

I would like to gather some environment sound data over a week or two. Logged on a PC.It's the type of sound that may be the problem. It's to see/gather what the ambient noise level is and to identify what the peak noise is coming from a medium engineering press. One of these presses seem to be going at a rate of about 60 times a minute, another 12 times a minute but I suspect capturing the peak sound level may be a problem. I would like to put the microphone somewhere at the back of my Garden some 15-20 M away,


What would be the best solution, and I suppose the most cost effective

Hi,

The unit that you would require will depend on the frequency of the noise to be captured. The ear can capture between 20Hz to 20 KHz. Assuming these are the frequencies that you want to capture you will need an oscilloscope/data logger to measure 3 times this sampling rate.

The product that can achive this is a mid range unit ADC-100. It has a sample rate of 100ksps.

You can use two methods of logging you could sample the ambient sound and trigger the unit to start sampling when the sound increases as the engineering press switches on or alternatively you can sample all the time.

Picolog software is provided free with this product, as are upgrades.

For full specifications and prices see here:
http://www.picotech.com/40_42_100.html#adc100

If you require to measure higher frequencies then you should consider the ADC216.
http://www.picotech.com/audio_spectrum_analyzer.html

Best regards,