SmarterNoise Pro vs EyeSound Vocal

SmarterNoise Pro is the most advanced edition of the SmarterNoise recording sound level meters. SmarterNoise Pro edition is developed especially with more advanced measurements in mind, and includes many requested features such as a frequency spectrum display, export of measurement data, A-, C- or no weighting for sound level measurement, and full screen audio mode. SmarterNoise Pro edition does not contain any advertising, and performs accurately and fast. Features: • Sound level measurement in video mode • Sound level measurement in audio mode • Sound meter snapshot camera • Record video and audio files (paid function) • Recording timer • Sound level activated audio recording • Frequency spectrum display (paid function) • Peak frequency detection • A-, C- or no frequency weighting • Export of measurement data in CSV format • Full HD (paid function), HD and VGA video resolution • Three video quality settings • Archive for saved files • Sharing of saved files • Calibration • Save location of measurement (optional) • Time and date • Continuous Leq, LAeq, LCeq value • 10 second sound level average (Leq, LAeq, LCeq) • 60 second sound level average (Leq, LAeq, LCeq) • Maximum and minimum decibel level About decibels and sound level measurement The unit for measuring sound is called a decibel. Because the decibel scale is logarithmic, a sound with an intensity that is twice that of a reference sound corresponds to an increase of about 3 decibels. The reference point of 0 decibel is set at the intensity of the least perceptible sound, the threshold of hearing. On such a scale a 10-decibel sound is 10 times the intensity of the reference sound. Highlighting this is important as already a few decibels higher or lower makes a noticeable difference in how noise is perceived. The preferred method to describe sound levels that vary over time, resulting in a single decibel value measuring the total sound energy over the period, is called Leq. It is however common practice to measure sound levels using A-weighting, which attenuates lower and higher frequencies that the average person cannot hear. In this case the value is called LAeq. A- and C-weighting The A-weighting is a standard, commonly used filter that attempts to alter the measured sound pressure levels to more closely match the perception of the human ear. A-weighting makes the sound level meter less sensitive to very high (over 8000 Hz) and low frequencies (below 1000 Hz). C-weighting also attenuates low and high frequencies, but the attenuation of low frequencies is much less severe compared to A-weighting. Calibrate: Calibrate the application using the calibration tool found in the settings menu. Phones and their components vary in quality and setup so you need to calibrate the app in order for the results to be relatively comparable. One suggestion is that you close the window and door to your bedroom or bathroom, turn off appliances, and once its very quiet calibrate the app so the reading is about 30 decibel.

EyeSound Vocal converts spoken words and other sounds into data rich images. These are seen in an active spectrogram displayed on the screen of your device. Latency of sound-to-image is less than 100 milliseconds. The spectrogram can be tuned by the user so that images of most spoken words are recognizable and are unique. If one has memorized a good sized vocabulary of word images, there can be some visual comprehension of spoken conversations just from viewing the app's spectrogram. Details in the spectrograms indicate inflection and volume. Applications/uses: - entertainment - watch as sounds and conversations morph into image streams - art - create and download spectrogram images that correspond to spoken phrases or other sounds ------------------------------------------------ NOTE: EyeSound Vocal does not capture medical data and does not provide health related measurements, diagnoses or treatment advice. It is not intended for use as a tool for treatment of medical conditions. It is not intended for use as a tool for scientific measurements. ------------------------------------------------ User adjustable parameters in the app include the rate at which sonogram images progress across the screen, resolution, colors, color switching and color mapping to sound intensity, high frequency boost. Features include auto gain, display of saved images next to active or paused spectrogram, pause/resume for capture of images, save/recall of images, save/recall of setup parameters, default parameter setup that is well suited to the visualization of human speech. full screen mode for a view of nothing but the active, or paused, spectrogram. How the app works: Sound is captured by your device's microphone. The app processes the sound data in small sized packets. For each packet the app computes frequencies and intensities. A spectrogram is created by color mapping intensities across frequency bins and then plotting these versus time. With ongoing plotting of packet data as it arrives the spectrogram becomes 'active' - it appears as a movie. EyeSound - Past, Present, Future: 45 years ago, in 1979, a young chemical engineer fresh out of MIT had just begun working for GE in Niskayuna, NY. In his spare time he built and experimented with breadboarded circuits that incorporated resistors and capacitors, transistors and ICs and lights, microphones and speakers. One day he assembled a device consisting of a row of LEDs tied into a circuit that would sequentially light the LEDs in accordance with an input voltage signal. When he manually swept this device in an arc he saw - very much to his surprise and to his fascination - images of complex waveforms painted across empty air. This simple device was giving a glimpse of all of the information that was normally only heard! The engineer had found a mission: improve upon the device to open to the world a whole new dimension of visual perception. A team of 2 of us - the engineer and the coder - have over the past several months turned the concept into an app. The initial release is happening now. The 45 year old mission is on the verge of realization. We anticipate releasing new versions of the EyeSound Vocal app on a regular basis. Users - please send us your suggestions and we'll use them as direction for improvements and use them to expand on our user tips. We will be taking a look into interfacing EyeSound with two types of peripheral devices (1) AR glasses which could put the active spectrogram front and center in your field of view - so that while viewing the spectrogram you will be more in the same world with the people around you; (2) wearable, directional and better quality microphones to avoid the pick up of background sounds that at times obscure the visualizations.