Sound Meter: dB & Noise Level

Ever wondered if the cafe you work from is actually too loud, or whether your neighbour's party really is as noisy as it feels? Sound Meter turns your phone into a simple, honest decibel meter so you can find out.

Open the app and it starts listening straight away. A big analog-style dial shows the current level, along with the average and the maximum, and a small tag tells you what that level is comparable to, like a quiet library or a busy restaurant. A live chart underneath shows the last 30 seconds, so you can see a sound come and go.

LOOK AFTER YOUR EARS

Hearing damage builds up slowly and you usually don't notice until it's too late. Sound Meter can warn you when it stays loud for longer than you'd like, and you choose the level and how long it has to last. A small ring at the top keeps count of today's noise dose, based on the widely used 85 dB for 8 hours guideline, so you know when your ears have had enough.

MEASURE THE WAY YOU NEED

• A, C or Z weighting. A is the standard for everyday noise and is on by default

• Fast, Slow or Impulse response

• Switch the chart to bars or a frequency spectrum to see where the sound sits, from deep rumble to high hiss

• Sudden sounds like door slams are picked up and marked automatically

CALIBRATE IN A FEW SECONDS

Every phone microphone is a little different. If you have a sound level meter (or a friend with one), put the phone next to it, type in what it shows, and the app works out the correction for you. No meter? You can pick a rough reference level instead and fine tune from there.

KEEP AN EYE ON IT, EVEN WHEN THE APP IS CLOSED

• Keep measuring in the background, with pause and stop right in the notification

• Start a reading from the Quick Settings tile or the home-screen widget

• Full-screen traffic-light mode turns green, amber or red, handy for classrooms and open-plan offices

• A big-number mode you can read from across the room

SAVE, LOOK BACK AND SHARE

Save a session and you'll get the minimum, average, maximum, Leq and noise dose, plus a list of any loud events. Share a tidy PDF report or export the raw numbers as CSV if you want to dig in yourself. If you saved the audio, you can play a session back in step with its chart and jump straight to the loudest moment. Handy for a complaint to a landlord, a note for the council, or just settling an argument. There's also a weekly summary that points out your loudest day and how noisy your nights have been.

A LITTLE CHALLENGE

Quiet challenges ask you to stay under a level for a few minutes, a nice way to unwind or get kids to calm down. A single cough won't ruin it. Keep it up on consecutive days to build a streak and collect badges.

MAKE IT YOURS

Choose a classic, LED or minimal dial, a System, Instrument or digital 7-segment font for the numbers, and an accent colour, or let it follow your wallpaper. Light and dark theme are both supported, and the meter works with TalkBack and large text.

YOUR SOUND STAYS WITH YOU

The app needs the microphone to measure, and by default it only ever looks at loudness. If you want to listen back, you can choose to save audio with your sessions; it stays on your phone with everything else. Nothing is uploaded.

A QUICK, HONEST NOTE

A phone is not a certified sound level meter, and readings can vary between devices. Sound Meter is great for getting a good idea of how loud things are and for keeping track over time, but for legal or workplace compliance measurements please use a calibrated Class 1 or Class 2 meter.

Questions? There's a built-in Help page in the menu that explains everything, and we'd love to hear what you think in a review.