Decibel chart of common sounds

From a whisper to a jet engine: how loud everyday sounds are in decibels, and when they start to harm your hearing.

Level	Sound	Effect	Safe time (NIOSH)
150 dB	Gunshot	Painful	1 sec
140 dB	Fireworks (close)	Painful	1 sec
130 dB	Jet engine (near)	Painful	1 sec
120 dB	Thunderclap overhead	Painful	9 sec
120 dB	Emergency siren (close)	Painful	9 sec
110 dB	Car horn (2 m)	Extremely loud	1 min
110 dB	Chainsaw	Extremely loud	1 min
110 dB	Rock concert	Extremely loud	1 min
105 dB	Jackhammer	Extremely loud	5 min
100 dB	Power drill	Extremely loud	15 min
100 dB	Headphones at max volume	Extremely loud	15 min
100 dB	Under a railway bridge as a train passes	Extremely loud	15 min
95 dB	Motorcycle passing	Very loud	48 min
90 dB	Dog barking (5 m)	Very loud	2 hr 31 min
90 dB	Gas lawn mower	Very loud	2 hr 31 min
90 dB	Food blender	Very loud	2 hr 31 min
85 dB	Hair dryer	Very loud	8 hr
80 dB	Piano (1 m)	Loud	25 hr
80 dB	Heavy city traffic	Loud	25 hr
80 dB	Alarm clock (close)	Loud	25 hr
80 dB	Inside a train or subway car	Loud	25 hr
70 dB	Cicadas in summer	Loud	No limit
70 dB	Vacuum cleaner	Loud	No limit
70 dB	Busy office	Loud	No limit
60 dB	Inside a quiet car	Moderate	No limit
60 dB	Normal conversation	Moderate	No limit
50 dB	Air-conditioner outdoor unit	Moderate	No limit
50 dB	Moderate rainfall	Moderate	No limit
50 dB	Quiet office	Moderate	No limit
40 dB	Refrigerator hum	Quiet	No limit
40 dB	Quiet residential area at night	Quiet	No limit
40 dB	Library	Quiet	No limit
30 dB	Quiet bedroom at night	Quiet	No limit
30 dB	Soft whisper	Quiet	No limit
20 dB	Rustling leaves	Very quiet	No limit
20 dB	Clock ticking (1 m)	Very quiet	No limit
10 dB	Normal breathing	Very quiet	No limit
0 dB	Threshold of human hearing	Very quiet	No limit

How to read a decibel scale

1The decibel scale is logarithmic. Every +10 dB is ten times the sound energy and sounds roughly twice as loud.
2An increase of 3 dB doubles the sound energy and halves the time you can safely listen.
3Values are typical A-weighted levels at normal listening distance. Moving closer to a source makes it much louder.

Sounds at or above 85 dB can damage hearing with prolonged exposure; above 120 dB can cause immediate pain and damage.

No. 60 dB is similar to a normal conversation and is comfortable for most people.

A soft whisper at about one metre measures around 30 dB.

Human hearing perceives a 10 dB increase as roughly a doubling of loudness, even though the sound energy is ten times higher.

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