System 824

Training Manual

Larson Davis Inc.

1681 West 820 North
Provo, UT 84601 USA
Phone: 801-375-0177
FAX: 801-375-0182
www.LarsonDavis.com
I824.02 Rev C
824 Training Manual

Copyright
Copyright 2016 by Larson Davis, Incorporated. This manual and the software described in it are copy
righted, with all rights reserved. The software may not be copied in whole or in part for commercial
use without prior written consent of Larson Davis Inc. The manual may not be copied in whole or in
part for any use without prior written consent of Larson Davis Inc.

Disclaimer
The following paragraph does not apply in any state or country where such statements are not agree-
able with local law:
Even though Larson Davis, Inc. has tested the software and reviewed its documentation, Larson Davis
Incorporated makes no warranty or representation, either expressed or implied, with respect to this
software and documentation, its quality, performance, merchantability, or fitness for a particular pur-
pose. This documentation is subject to change without notice, and should not be construed as a com-
mitment or representation by Larson•Davis Inc.
This publication may contain inaccuracies or typographical errors. Larson Davis Inc. will periodically
update the material for inclusion in new editions. Changes and improvements to the information
described in this manual may be made at any time.

Warranty
For warranty information, refer to our Terms and Conditions of Sale on our website,
www.larsondavis.com/TermsConditions.aspx.
Recycling
PCB Piezotronics, Inc. is an environmentally friendly organization and encourages our customers to be
environmentally conscious. When this product reaches its end of life, please recycle the product through
a local recycling center or return the product to:
PCB Piezotronics, Inc.
Attn: Recycling Coordinator
1681 West 820 North
Provo, Utah, USA 84601-1341
where it will be accepted for disposalis manual may be made at any time.

ii
 824 Training Manual

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 "Quick Start"

What you will Learn ..........................................................................................1-1
Power Key Functions....................................................................................1-2
Powering on the 824......................................................................................1-2
Battery Life ...................................................................................................1-2
LCD Screen Backlight ..................................................................................1-3
LCD Screen Contrast ....................................................................................1-3
An Acoustic Chameleon ....................................................................................1-3
Viewing Instrument IDs ................................................................................1-4
Navigating the Menus ........................................................................................1-5
Arrow Keys ...................................................................................................1-7
Check key ......................................................................................................1-7
Let’s Push Some Buttons ..............................................................................1-7
SSA Measurements ............................................................................................1-8
Time History .................................................................................................1-8
Interval History ...........................................................................................1-10
Broadband Measurements ...........................................................................1-11
Lets Go For a Test Drive..................................................................................1-13
SLM.........................................................................................1-13
RTA.........................................................................................1-13
Intervals..................................................................................1-13
Time History...........................................................................1-13
Ln.............................................................................................1-13
Resetting Data .............................................................................................1-17
Calibration...................................................................................................1-17
Taking a Measurement ................................................................................1-17
Viewing Data from the 824 Screen..................................................................1-17
SLM Data ....................................................................................................1-17
RTA Data ....................................................................................................1-18
Storing Data .....................................................................................................1-18
Recalling Data..................................................................................................1-18
Download Data Using 824 Utility Software ....................................................1-19
Downloading the Data.................................................................................1-20
Translating the Data and Looking at the Reports ............................................1-22
Reports (824 Utility Software).........................................................................1-23

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824 Training Manual

Printing a Report .........................................................................................1-23

Exporting Data ............................................................................................1-23
Content of Reports ......................................................................................1-23
Summary Report..........................................................................1-23
Time History Report....................................................................1-25
Interval Report.............................................................................1-26

Chapter 2 Environmental Measurements

Environmental Noise ..............................................................................................2-1
Types of Environmental Noise ..........................................................................2-1
Why Measure Community Noise? .....................................................................2-3
824 LOG Instrument ...............................................................................................2-4
What Does the LOG Instrument Measure?........................................................2-4
Time History ......................................................................................................2-4
Interval History ..................................................................................................2-6
***Special advanced feature.....................................................................2-7
Time synchronization........................................................ 2-7
Exceedance History............................................................................................2-8
Exceedance Time History ...........................................................................2-10
Setting the parameters for an Exceedance History......................................2-11
Excd Enable (Yes) .............................. ...............................2-12
Min Duration (000)........................................................... 2-12
Excd Time-Hist (Yes) ........................................................2-12
T.H. Period (032)................................................................2-12
Excd Trigger (Level) .........................................................2-12
Excd Time (Start)............................................................... 2-12
Viewing Exceedance History Data on the 824............................................2-14
Excd-a...................................................................................2-14
Excd-b .......................................... ........................................2-14
Time History .......................................................................2-15
PassBy Exceedance .....................................................................................2-15
PassBy Measurement ..................................................................................2-16
Daily History....................................................................................................2-16
Explanation of Ldn and CNEL....................................................................2-17
Hourly Statistics ..........................................................................................2-17
Hourly Leq...................................... ................................... 2-18
Background Leq ................................................................2-18
Hourly Excd Leq ................................................................2-18
Metrics .............................................................................................................2-18
DNL (Ldn) ..........................................................................2-19

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 824 Training Manual

CNEL .......................................... ........................................2-19

Background Leq ...............................................................2-19
Excd Leq ...................................... ......................................2-19

Chapter 3 RT60 Measurements

What is an RT60 and how is it measured?..............................................................3-1
RT60 Defined ................................................................................................3-1
How does my 824 measure an RT60?...........................................................3-2

Taking an RT60 Measurement...........................................................................3-3

Exciting the Room.........................................................................................3-3
Setting up the 824 for an RT60 measurement...............................................3-3
RT60-A and RT60-B Setups....................... ...................... 3-3
Advanced RT60 Measurements .........................................................................3-7
Triggering......................................................................................................3-7
Customizing the Trigger Menu .....................................................................3-9
Averaging............................................................................ 3-9
End Time ............................................................................3-10
Trigger and Arm Levels ......................... ..........................3-10
Autostore Display .............................. ..............................3-10

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824 Training Manual

vi
 CHAPTER

1 824 “Quick Start”

The 824 sound level meter and real-time analyzer is the cul-
mination of four years of research and development. It
advances the state-of-the-art in acoustic instrumentation.
This Training Manual has been developed to jump-start your
initiation into the use of your new instrument. Consider it a
“getting started” guide as you get to know your 824.

What you will Learn

This manual is best used accompanied with the instrument

and 824 Reference Manual. You will be guided through a
step by step tour of the System 824.

After reading this chapter you should be able to do the fol-

lowing:

• Power on the 824

• Navigate through the different menus

• Setup the 824 for a simple measurement

• Take a simple measurement

• Store data

• View data from the 824 screen

• Download data using 824 Utility software

• Look at reports generated by the 824 Utility software

4/19/01 824 “Quick Start” 1-1

Power
Key Functions
Powering on the 824 Turn the 824 on by pressing the On/Off
key .
The instrument will go through a brief start up cycle, where
it flashes the 824 ID screen.

It will then switch to the display that was established before
it was powered off in its previous session. The On/Off
key can also be used to check the battery power, as well as

verify the on/off status of the display’s backlight. Press the
On/Off key again to view the PWR screen:

Battery Life Battery life is expressed in a percentage (100% being fully

charged). If you are powering the 824 with an external
source (such as the AC/DC adaptor), the voltage level will
be shown.

1-2 824Training Manual 4/19/01

 
LCD Screen Backlight You can toggle the screen’s backlight on and off by pressing
the right arrow key .

 
LCD Screen Contrast The screen contrast can be adjusted by continuous presses of
or . Contrast is expressed as a number between 0
and 100. You will find a value between 64 and 70 to be opti-
mal.

Press  to exit the PWR screen

An Acoustic Chameleon

*Even if you didn’t purchase some of The 824 is a quick-change artist and can be configured many
the options, demo versions are pro- different ways. Depending on the options* that you pur-
vided of all of the optional virtual chased the 824 could have the following instruments:
instruments.
• ISM - Integrating sound level meter

• SSA - Sound spectrum analyzer

• LOG - Logging sound level meter

• RTA - Real-time analyzer

• FFT - Fast Fourier transform analyzer

• AUD - Audiometer calibration system

• TAL - Tonality analyzer

4/19/01 824 “Quick Start” 1-3

 Each of these instruments are available from the Setup 

menu.

Viewing Instrument IDs Push the Setup 

key to view the instruments (virtual
instruments) in your 824.

Integrating sound level meter - Measures Leq, SEL, Min, Max,

Peak, with all weights (A, C, Flat) and with all detectors (Slow, Fast,
Impulse) simultaneously. Includes a high and low measuring range.

Sound spectrum analyzer - This SLM and RTA measures Leq,

SEL, Min, Max, Peak, with all weights (A, C, Flat) and with all detec-
tors (Slow, Fast, Impulse) simultaneously, plus 1/1 and 1/3 octave data
stored in a time history at storage rates as fast as 8 times per second.
Included are Ln data showing six Ln values, a graph of L1 through L99
(broadband) and six spectral Lns.

Logging - Measures Leq, SEL TWA, Min, Max, Peak, with all
weights (A, C, Flat) and with all detectors (Slow, Fast, Impulse) simul-
taneously. Includes time history, interval history, exceedance history,
daily history, Ln percentiles, statistical data, exposure, and dual SLM
(current and overall).

Real-time analyzer - High speed spectral data gathering of up to

400 spectra per second using Autostore function. Spatial averaging of
any number of spectra. Flexible triggering for data acquisition. Per-
forms RT60, RC, NCB, HTL. Exponential and linear detectors.

Fast Fourier Transform - 400 line FFT with Hanning or Rectangu-

lar window, snapshot data storage, display zoom with a factor of 2, 4,
or 8. Count averaging (1 to 16384), measures THD, and linear units
can be user defined.

Audiometer - Audiometer testing for level, frequency, linearity,

THD, pulse, crosstalk, frequency modulation, narrow band, broad-
band, and speech noise.

Tonality analyzer - Performs complex tonality calculations required

by DIN 45681. Measures the frequency of a dominant tone (FT), the
level of the tone (LT), the bandwidth of the tonal group (∆F), the level
of the group (LG), and difference of the two levels (LT - LG). SLM
measures LA, LC, LAeq, LCeq, LAmax, LCmax, LAFTM5, L95, and LCeq-LAeq. A
snapshot history is provided to store and display data from the various
modes.

1-4 824Training Manual 4/19/01

Navigating the Menus

The main menu keys are shown below. To access the differ-
ent instrument functions, simply press the appropriate key.

Figure 1- 1View, Data, Setup, Tools, and Print Keys.

 - The VIEW
key is used to select
 - The DATA
key is used to store a
 - The SETUP
key allows selection
 - The TOOLS
key is used to access:
 - The PRINT
key is used to estab-
which measured data measurement and of the instrument lish the settings
to display. The views recall it at a later setup menus. From Calibration required to communi-
available depend time. here you can select a cate with an external
Clock/Timer
upon the measure- pre-configured mea- serial printer and to
ment setup you have surement setup, cre- Memory select the type of
selected. ate a new one, or edit report to print.
an existing setup. Power Monitor

Communications

4/19/01 824 “Quick Start” 1-5

  -
suspends
The PAUSE key
a measure-

 - The RESET key

is used to clear the cur-
ment. Pressing the pause
key again will allow the - This is the RUN/
STOP key. It initiates or
measurement to con-
rent measurement from tinue. Pressing the pause ends a measurement.
the display. The screen key when the 824 is
will clear and a new “stopped” brings up a
measurement can be preview display allow-
acquired. ing you to view the SPL
without affecting mea-
sured data.

Figure 1-2 Reset, Pause, and Run/Stop keys.

1-6 824Training Manual 4/19/01

Arrow Keys ...


 The four arrow keys are used to navigate through each

selected menu and display.
.....
 
 
When displaying data the up and down arrow keys
move through display screens. The left and right
arrow keys move the user from one related screen to the
next.



In menus, they control cursor movement. The up and


down arrow keys move the cursor between items in a
menu. The right arrow key enters submenus and set-


tings.

The left  arrow key will back you out of menus. Better
know as the exit or escape key.

  arrow
 and
When modifying a setting the left and right


keys select a character or digit to modify. The up
down arrow keys will modity the parameter.

Check key
 

The check key is used to select an option or choice from a
menu. Pressing the check key in many displays (views)
allows the user to make changes appropriate to that display.

The check key  also serves as the Enter key when chang-
ing a setting’s value.

Let’s Push Some Buttons To get a feel for how easy the 824 is to use, push the follow-
ing keys sequentially:

   
These are called “push-on”, “push- Now push each of these keys twice (in any order). You will
off”, menus. notice that the second push of the key takes you out of that
menu and shows the display previously selected.

4/19/01 824 “Quick Start” 1-7

SSA Measurements

The most frequently used instrument of the 824 is the Sound

Spectrum Analyzer or SSA. The SSA instrument includes
frequency analysis with sound level meter functions. Lets
take a look at what the SSA instrument can measure.

Time History The Time History records time segments down to 1/8th of a
second. The Time History is intended for a more detailed
look at the data versus time. The time history is valuable at
detecting what might be the offending noise source(s).

Below is a level versus time graph showing several Time

History periods:

Level

Level versus Time Graph

Time
Time Time Time Time Time Time Time Time
History History History history history history history history
Period Period Period period period period period period
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

The graph is divided into eight equal time history periods.

The duration of each period can be adjusted from one-eighth
of a second to 255 minutes.

For each Time history period you can select any of the fol-
lowing to be recorded:

1-8 824Training Manual 4/19/01

 Metric Explanation of Metric
SPL Fast (dBF)
SPL Fast (dBC)
SPL Fast (dBA)
SPL Slow (dBF)
The instantaneous SPL of the given frequency and time
SPL Slow (dBC)
weighting found at the end of the period.
SPL Slow (dBA)
SPL Impl (dBF)
SPL Impl (dBC)
SPL Impl (dBA)
RTA Leq An energy average of all the samples for each frequency band.
RTA Live The instantaneous SPL for each frequency band found at the end of the period.
Lmax Fast (dBF)
Lmax Fast (dBC)
Lmax Fast (dBA)
Lmax Slow(dBF)
Lmax Slow(dBC) The maximum instantaneous SPL during the period.
Lmax Slow(dBA)
Lmax Impl (dBF)
Lmax Impl (dBC)
Lmax Impl (dBA)
Lmin Fast (dBF)
Lmin Fast (dBC)
Lmin Fast (dBA)
Lmin Slow (dBF)
The lowest instantaneous SPL during the period.
Lmin Slow (dBC)
Lmin Slow (dBA)
Lmin Impl (dBF)
Lmin Impl (dBC)
Lmin Impl (dBA)
Peak (dBF) The largest peak level achieved during the period for the
Peak (dBC)
given frequency weighting.
Peak (dBA)
Leq (dBF) The energy average or equivalent level of all samples during the period. (This is a
Leq (dBC) “true Leq” rather than an integration of SPL)
Leq (dBA)
Temperature The internal case temperature found at the end of the period.
External Voltage The voltage of the external power source found at the end of the period.
Battery Voltage The battery voltage found at the end of the period.

4/19/01 824 “Quick Start” 1-9

Interval History Another history available to the SSA is the Interval History.
This statistical history provides a number of parameters cal-
culated over a period of time that can be set from 1 second to
over 99 hours.

Below is a level versus time graph showing four interval

periods:

Level

Level versus Time Graph

Time

Interval 1 Interval 2 Interval 3 Interval 4

1 sec. to 99 hrs. 1 sec. to 99 hrs. 1 sec. to 99 hrs. 1 sec. to 99 hrs.

For each Interval period the following are recorded automat-

ically:

Metric Explanation of Metric

Leq (dB) w/selected weighting Short Leq average of all energy during interval
SEL (dB) w/selected weighting SEL of all energy during interval
Lmin (dB) w/selected weighting Minimum instantaneous SPL during the interval
Lmax (dB) w/selected weighting Maximum instantaneous SPL during the interval
Lpeak-I (dBF) Greatest peak level during the interval
Lpeak-II (dB) w/selected weighting Greatest peak level during the interval
Leq spectrum Energy average of all samples for each frequency band

1-10 824Training Manual 4/19/01

 For each Interval period the following can be optionally
selected:

Metric Explanation of Metric

Six Ln values (broadband) The level that the instantaneous SPL was over for n% of the time
Six spectral Lns Six spectral Lns whose frequency band levels were over for n% of the time
Min spectrum(bin by bin minimum) Lowest instantaneous level reached for each frequency band during the interval.
@Max spectrum Instantaneous SPL of each frequency band at the occurance of the broadband Lmax
during the interval

Broadband Measurements The SSA instrument records several broadband measure-

ments over the total run time. This means from the time the
824 is set to run until it is stopped.

Level

Level versus Time Graph Lpeak

Lmax

Leq

Lmin

Time

Broadband measurements

For the total run time of the instrument the following metrics
are recorded:

4/19/01 824 “Quick Start” 1-11

 Metric Explanation of Metric
SPL Fast (dBF)
SPL Fast (dBC)
SPL Fast (dBA)
SPL Slow (dBF)
The instantaneous SPL of the given frequency and time
SPL Slow (dBC)
weighting found at the end of the measurement.
SPL Slow (dBA)
SPL Impl (dBF)
SPL Impl (dBC)
SPL Impl (dBA)
Lmax Fast (dBF)
Lmax Fast (dBC)
Lmax Fast (dBA)
Lmax Slow(dBF)
Lmax Slow(dBC) The maximum instantaneous SPL during the measurement.
Lmax Slow(dBA)
Lmax Impl (dBF)
Lmax Impl (dBC)
Lmax Impl (dBA)
Lmin (dBF)
Lmin (dBC)
The lowest instantaneous SPL during the measurement.
Lmin (dBA)
SEL (dBF)
SEL (dBC) Sound exposure level during the measurement. [Leq + 10 Log (T)], where
SEL (dBA) T is in seconds
Peak (dBF)
Peak (dBC) The largest peak level achieved during the measurement.
Peak (dBA)
Leq (dBF) The energy average or equivalent level of all samples during the measurement.
Leq (dBC) (This is a “true Leq” rather than an integration of SPL)
Leq (dBA)
RTA Live Instantaneous SPL for each frequency band.
RTA Leq Energy average of all samples for each frequency band.
RTA Max A record of the RTA Live spectrum at the occurance of the broadband Lmax selected by
weight and detector settings.
RTA Min The lowest instantaneous RTA Live reading per frequency band.

1-12 824Training Manual 4/19/01

 
Lets Go For a Test Drive

Now that we know what the SSA instrument will measure,

let’s setup the 824 to take a simple measurement.

Step 1 Push the SETUP key to get into the SETUP

menu. Your screen should look like the one below:

Step 2
If your screen doesn’t look like this
despite anything that you do, the
instrument is probably deep into the
menu. Press the left arrow key until
you have backed out to the main
menu or press the POWER v key to
exit all menus and try again. Step 3 If the SSA instrument does not appear at the top of


the list, use the up and down arrow keys to high-
light SLM&RTA.SSA and press the Check key


to select it. With “Edit Settings” highlighted, press
the right arrow to enter into the SSA settings
menu.

For an explanation of any of these You will notice that you have alot of choice concerning the
settings, please see chapter 7 of the setup of the SSA instrument.
824 Reference Manual.

Step 4 Referring to the diagrams on the following pages,

configure the 824 with the following parameters:

SLM

• Detector [Slow]

• Gain [+0]

• Transducer [Condenser]

• Random Correction [No]

RTA

• RTA Detector [Fast]

• RTA Weighting [FLT]

4/19/01 824 “Quick Start” 1-13

 • Bandwidth [1/3]

Intervals

• Intv Enable [No]

Time History

• Hist Enable [No]

Ln

• Enable Ln [No]

For now we will not change any settings for Triggering,

Define Report, and Controls. We will rely on the default
settings.

We did not turn on the Interval History, Time History, or

enable the Lns (statistical data).

For this measurement we will only record SLM & RTA

broadband data over the run time of the instrument.

Step 5 Once you have completed configuring the 824,

back out of the the submenus by pressing the left
arrow key (repeatedly if needed).


All data will be collected regardless Step 6 In order to see the data collection process, press
of which display you are viewing on the VIEW key.
the 824.


Step 7 Select the SLM view by highlighting “SLM” and
pressing the Check key.

1-14 824Training Manual 4/19/01


Settings Menu and Submenus

4/19/01 824 “Quick Start” 1-15


Settings Menu and Submenus
(continued)

1-16 824Training Manual 4/19/01


Resetting Data Step 8 At this point it is a good idea to reset the 824 for a


new measurement. Press the RESET key,
select “OverAll” then press the Check key.

Calibration Step 9 Calibrate the 824 according to the procedure

found in chapter 2 of the 824 Reference Manual.

Taking a Measurement Step 10 Press the RUN/STOP

key to start taking a mea-

surement. Let the instrument run for about a
minute then press the RUN/STOP key again to
stop the measurement. The measurement time is
shown on the bottom of the SLM+RTA display.


Viewing Data from the 824 Screen


SLM Data After the measurement is taken we can look at the data we


just collected by pressing the VIEW key. Highlight the
“Any Data” menu item and press the Check key.

4/19/01 824 “Quick Start” 1-17

Refer to page 1-12 or the 824 Refer- With “Any Level” highlighted, press the Check  key

 
ence Manual for an explanation of again. To scroll through the different displays use the right
these metics and displays. and left arrow keys You will see that metrics for
A,C, and Flat and Slow, Fast, and impulse are all measured
simultaneously.



RTA Data To view the RTA data press the VIEW key and back out
to the main VIEW menu by pressing the left arrow key.


Highlight “RTA” from the VIEW menu and press the right
arrow.


Highlight “RTA Live, RTA Leq, RTA Max, or RTA Min”
and press the Check key to display the spectral data col-
lected.


Storing Data

To store the data that was just collected, press the DATA

key.

With “Store File” highlighted, press the Check  key. The-

data has now been stored to a file.

Recalling Data

To recall the data you just stored, press the DATA

key
and highlight “Recall Files”.

1-18 824Training Manual 4/19/01

 Press the Check  key to bring up the Data Files display.
As you can see this display shows
the total number of records and the
current record you are viewing along
with the date and time the record
was taken.


Use the up and down arrow keys to select the record you
would like to recall and press the Check key. Further
options such as “Recall file, Beginning, Ending, Find, Purge
All” will be displayed.

Highlight “Recall File” and press the Check 

key. The
recalled record will be displayed from the VIEW menu.
From the VIEW menu you can view the data that is impor-
tant to you.

Download Data Using 824 Utility Software

Using the 824 Utility software allows you to download the

data files stored in the 824. These files are then transferred
to your computer for storage and viewing. You can also
import the files into a spreadsheet such as Excel for further
manipulation for reporting purposes. The reports can be

4/19/01 824 “Quick Start” 1-19

 printed directly from the 824 Utility software or from your
Excel file.

Downloading the Data For this exercise you will need to have already installed the
824 Utility software on your computer and connected the
CLB006 computer interface cable between the 824 and the
serial port on your computer. Refer to chapter 9 of the 824
Reference manual if you need help getting to this point.

Step 1 Run the 824 Utility software by clicking on the

icon on your desktop.

Step 2 Connect the 824 to your computer by double

clicking this button from the tool bar. The com-
muncation screen will appear. Select the COM
PORT you are connected to on your computer and
press “Connect”. The startup window will appear:

Step 3 On the tool bar select the download window by

double clicking on this button. The download win-
dow will appear:

1-20 824Training Manual 4/19/01

Use the note facility to
identify your measure-
ment before hitting the
download button.

Use the “Ctrl” key of your computer Step 4 You will notice on the left hand side of the win-
in conjunction with your mouse to dow shows the measurements that are stored in the
select more than one measurement. 824. Select the measurements you would like to
download by highlighting them with your mouse.
You can highlight one or all of the same type of
measurement. Let’s select the first measurement
for download LM&RTA). The file will automati-
cally be named using the date the measurement
was taken on. You have the option of changing the
file name by clicking on the file folder.

Step 5 Start the download by pressing the download but-

ton in the lower right-hand corner. A window will
appear giving you some more options concerning
the download.

Step 6 Select these options from this window:

4/19/01 824 “Quick Start” 1-21

 • “Save binary data”

• De-select “Launch viewer of type”

• From “Translate the following records” click on the

“Select All” button.

Step 7 Click on the “OK” button to start the download. A

window will appear showing the status of the
download. You have now successfully down-
loaded a measurement. Now let’s look at some
reports.

Translating the Data and Looking at the Reports

To get the data into a form that we can look at we need to

translate it. To translate the data, click on the translate win-
dow button on the tool bar.

The translate window is shown below.

To look at the file you just downloaded, find the directory

where it was downloaded to on the left hand side of the win-
dow.

Double click on the file name of the directory where the file
is stored. You will see several records such as SSA Sum-
mary, SSA Settings, SSA Time Hist Samples, and so on.
Click on the record you wish to view. The report will be
displayed on the right-hand side of the window.

1-22 824Training Manual 4/19/01

Reports (824 Utility Software)

Once the report is displayed on the right side of the window

it can be printed or exported to a spreadsheet for viewing.

Printing a Report To print the report you are viewing, select “File” and then
“Print”.

Exporting Data To export the report to a file or view in a spreadsheet, select

“File” and then “Export Data” or “View Data in a Spread-
sheet”.

The report will be printed in the format you see on the

screen. For some reports such as the “Time History” report,
you may need to export the data to view all of the informa-
tion in the report.

Content of Reports Below are some examples of reports that can be printed,
along with explanations of some of the data contained in
them.

Summary Report

The Summary report gives you the overall broadband and

spectral values for the run time of the instrument.

4/19/01 824 “Quick Start” 1-23

 6 Ln statistical values
over the run time of the
824 showing the distribu-
tion of the SPL exceeded
n% of the time.

Shows values for each

filter for Leq spectra,
@Max spectra, and Min
spectra.

1-24 824Training Manual 4/19/01

 Time History Report

The Time History report shows each time history sample

selected for the time history period. For each time history
period you can record up to 37 data parameters as explained
on page 1-9.

4/19/01 824 “Quick Start” 1-25

 Interval Report

The Interval report shows the data for each interval period.
See page 1-10 for explanation of data parameters for interval
history.

That’s the basics. Now you can move on to some more pow-
erful measuring and analyzing capabilities of the 824 and
software.

1-26 824Training Manual 4/19/01

 CHAPTER

2 Environmental
Measurements

Because of its features, ruggedness and tolerance to environ-

mental extremes the System 824 is uniquely qualified for
environmental noise monitoring.

Environmental Noise

Environmental noise impacts our quality of life. It can cause

annoyance, hearing loss, stress, and loss of sleep. The num-
ber of noise sources are increasing on a daily basis. For
those involved in measuring, analyzing, and processing of
environmental noise data the challenges are many.

Types of Environmental Noise

Here are some common types of noise sources:

• Road traffic

- DOT planning studies

- Enforcement of vehicle noise limits

- Noise barriers

- Complaints of existing roadways

• Aircraft noise

- Airport noise studies by consultants

3/22/01 Environmental Measurements 2-1

 - Small airport systems

- New developments around airports and land use

planning

- FAR 36 testing of airplanes (FAA operations)

- Encroachment on wilderness areas and National

Parks

- Military overflights and sonic booms

• Railroad noise

- Locomotive noise, whistles, switching opera-

tions

- Rail car retarders can produce up to 120dB peak

at 100 feet away

• Construction noise

- Can significantly change the acoustic environ-

ment

- Major projects usually require an environmental

impact study (roadways, new plants, mines, etc.)

- May require permanent noise monitoring system

• Industrial noise

- Industrial noise may come from machinery such

as fans, compressors, conveyor belts, compres-
sors, heavy equipment, gas flares, etc.

• Building noise

- Building noise includes HVAC, plumbing, appli-

ances, human activity, amplified music, TV, etc.

- Modern construction methods & materials can

worsen sound transmission and isolation problems

- Can involve many types of measurements

including room acoustics measurements (RT60,
transmission loss), environmental noise measure-
ments and vibration indoors and outdoors.

2-2 824 Training Manual 3/22/01

 • Product noise

- Noise from power tools, appliances, office prod-

ucts, lawn mowers, etc.

- Acoustic measurements normally done by manu-

facturer

• Recreational noise

- Recreational vehicle noise (snow mobiles, power

boats, jet skis, off road vehicles, etc.)

- Events and venues such as outdoor concerts, race

tracks, theme parks, amusement parks, etc.

- Firearms: small arms ranges

Why Measure Community Noise?

Community noise is measured for a lot of reasons, but

mostly because someone is being annoyed by some noise
source.

Here are some other reasons to measure community noise:

• To determine if a source is in compliance with a property

line or a point in space (noise ordinance)

• To predict levels based on measured data

• To detect events

• To identify a noise source

• Politics

• Baseline measurement

• To check sound isolation

• To determine sound power output

• To determine the quality of sound

• To characterize the source

3/22/01 Environmental Measurements 2-3

824 LOG Instrument

The 824 LOG instrument was designed and configured to

measure all types of environmental noise, thus the name
“LOG”. It is designed for long-term recording and contains
several histories to help you, the environmental noise ana-
lyst, to get the most from your measurement time in the
field.

What Does the LOG Instrument Measure?

The LOG instrument has the following histories:

• Time History

• Interval History

• Excd History

• Daily History

In addition to the Histories, the LOG instrument measures

the following:

• Current/Overall levels

• Six Ln percentiles plus a graph of 1-99 percentiles

• Exposure

• LDN and CNEL metrics

• PassBy

Time History

The Time History of the LOG instrument is almost identical

to the Time History of the SSA instrument except for some
minor details. The LOG time history does not record RTA
spectral data. The time history period can be as short as 1/32
of a second compared to 1/8 of a second for SSA.

2-4 824 Training Manual 3/22/01

 Below is a level versus time graph showing several time his-
tory periods:

Level

Level versus Time Graph

Time
Time Time Time Time Time Time Time Time
History History History history history history history history
Period Period Period period period period period period
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

The graph is divided into eight time history periods. The

duration of each period can be adjusted from 1/32 of a sec-
ond to 255 minutes.

For each time history period any of the following can be

recorded:

SPL Fast (dBF) SPL Impl (dBC) Lmax Slow(dBA) Lmin Slow (dBF) Peak (dBC)
SPL Fast (dBC) SPL Impl (dBA) Lmax Impl (dBF) Lmin Slow (dBC) Peak (dBA)
SPL Fast (dBA) Lmax Fast (dBF) Lmax Impl (dBC) Lmin Slow (dBA) Leq (dBF)
SPL Slow (dBF) Lmax Fast (dBC) Lmax Impl (dBA) Lmin Impl (dBF) Leq (dBC)
SPL Slow (dBC) Lmax Fast (dBA) Lmin Fast (dBF) Lmin Impl (dBC) Leq (dBA)
SPL Slow (dBA) Lmax Slow(dBF) Lmin Fast (dBC) Lmin Impl (dBA) Temperature
SPL Impl (dBF) Lmax Slow(dBC) Lmin Fast (dBA) Peak (dBF) External Voltage
Battery Voltage

3/22/01 Environmental Measurements 2-5

 See page 1-9 for a description of each of these metrics.

Interval History

Another history available to the LOG instrument is the Inter-

val History. This statistical history provides a number of
parameters calculated over a period of time that can be set
from 1 second to over 99 hours.

Below is a level versus time graph showing four interval

periods:

Level

Level versus Time Graph

Time

Interval 1 Interval 2 Interval 3 Interval 4

1 sec. to 99 hrs. 1 sec. to 99 hrs. 1 sec. to 99 hrs. 1 sec. to 99 hrs.

2-6 824 Training Manual 3/22/01

 For each Interval period the following are recorded automat-
ically:

Metric Explanation of Metric

Leq (dB) w/selected weighting Short Leq average of all energy during interval
SEL (dB) w/selected weighting SEL of all energy during interval
Lmin (dB) w/selected weighting Minimum instantaneous SPL during the interval
Lmax (dB) w/selected weighting Maximum instantaneous SPL during the interval
Lpeak-I (dBF) Greatest peak level during the interval
Lpeak-II (dB) w/selected weighting Greatest peak level during the interval

For each Interval period the following can be optionally

selected:

Metric Explanation of Metric

Six Ln values (broadband)*** The level that the instantaneous SPL was over for n% of the time

***Special advanced feature Since Ln’s cannot be combined over time, the 824 and DNA
software (also 824 Utility software) store and process the
binary Ln table for every interval in a way that records can
be combined and any percentiles may be calculated (post
processed) at any time.

Time synchronization

One feature of the Interval History is its ability to be syn-

chronized with the time of day clock. This allows each inter-
val record, for example, to begin at the start of each new
hour of the day. Syncing can be done to the following incre-
ments of time:

• 1 minute

• 5 minutes

• 10 minutes

• 15 minutes

• 20 minutes

• 30 minutes

• 60 minutes

3/22/01 Environmental Measurements 2-7

 Below is an illustration showing when each new interval
will begin based on the Interval setting:

5 minute 10 minute 15 minute

20 minute 30 minute 60 minute

Exceedance History

The Exceedance History is a special history of events which

go over a set threshold. For each exceedance history the fol-
lowing are recorded:

• Duration

• Leq

• Lmax

• SEL

• Peak-I

• Peak-II

• Time and date of occurrence (time at start of event or

time of maximum level)

• Exceedance time history (optional)

2-8 824 Training Manual 3/22/01

 Level (dB)
Exceedances

SPL Excd
Level 1

Level versus Time Graph

Time

Total time of measurement

Let’s take a closer look at what constitutes an exceedance.

Below is a detail of one of the peaks shown in the previous
graph.

TSTART TEND
Duration
Lmax
TMAX

Hysteresis
SPL Excd Level 1

3/22/01 Environmental Measurements 2-9

 An exceedance begins when the instantaneous SPL is found
to be greater than the trigger level (SPL Excd Level 1) or
when the instantaneous Peak I or Peak II levels are found to
be over their respective trigger levels (Pk-1 Excd Lvl and
Pk-2 Excd Lvl). An exceedance ends when the SPL and both
peak levels are below their respective trigger levels less the
hysteresis level. Hysteresis is used to prevent multiple
exceedance records being created by one actual event. With-
out hysteresis a Jack hammer could trigger an exceedance on
every cycle of the cylinder rather than every time the ham-
mer was actuated by the operator.

The duration is the time from when the exceedance began, to

when it ended. The Leq and SEL are calculated over this
period. The Lmax is the largest instantaneous SPL achieved
during this period.

Exceedance Time History A time history of the exceedance can be recorded and the
sampling time is user selectable from 1/32 of a second to
approximately 8 seconds. For a more detailed picture of a
potential noise source the exceedance history can be very
valuable.

In the case of a higher sampling A buffer is used to capture the Exceedance time history. This
rate, the 824 will give the end of the allows the 824 to store data prior to the triggering of the
event priority. exceedance. The buffer holds 128 samples. That means that
dfd if you are sampling at 1/32 of a second, you can capture an
event as long as four seconds. If your sampling rate is set at
a maximum of 8 seconds, you can capture an event as long
as 17 minutes. A typical sample periods is one second (enter
32 for “Excd T.H. Period”).

2-10 824 Training Manual 3/22/01

 Below is a graph of a time history for an exceedance:
dfdsasdfdsafffffffffffffffffffffffffffffd
dfdfsasdf
Sampling rate from
1/32 of a second to
approx. 8 seconds

df

-9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 T0 +1+2 +3 +4+5+6+7+8+9

10 samples recorded before the event Up to 118 samples 10 samples recorded after the event

Hint: Up to ten samples are stored prior to the trigger and up to ten samples
are stored after the exceedance to give a graphical indication of the
noise profile.

Setting the parameters for an Before setting the parameters for the Exceedance history or
Exceedance History Exceedance time history it is recommended that you get
familiar with the type of events you would like to capture.

Remember that the data recorded in the Exceedance history

are: Duration, Leq, Lmax, SEL, Peak-I, Peak-II, time and
date of occurrence (time at start of event or time of maxi-
mum level)

Referring to the diagrams on the following pages, configure

the 824 with the following parameters:

3/22/01 Environmental Measurements 2-11

 Triggering

• SPL Excd Lvl 1 (70)

• SPL Excd Lvl 2 (90)

• Pk-1 (105)

• Pk-2 Excd Lvl (100)

• Hysteresis (2)

Excd Enable (Yes)

Min Duration (000)

Excd Time-Hist (Yes)

T.H. Period (032)

Excd Trigger (Level)

Excd Time (Start)

2-12 824 Training Manual 3/22/01

 Exceedance History & Triggering Menus

Trigger Menu

Exceedance History Menu

3/22/01 Environmental Measurements 2-13

 After configuring the 824, press the RUN/STOP key to
begin a measurement. Since the “SPL Excd Level 1” is set to
70 dB, you will need a noise source which is louder than 70
dB to trigger an exceedance.

Whistle near the microphone for a few seconds while moni-

toring the sound level (make sure the level goes over 70 dB)
to trigger an exceedance. Allow the meter to run for several
seconds after triggering the exceedance in order for the level
to drop below the hysteresis level. Press the RUN/STOP key
to stop the measurement.



Viewing Exceedance History Press the VIEW key to access the view menu. Scroll


Data on the 824 down to “Excd History” and press the right arrow key.
Select “Exceedance” by pressing the Check key. The
exceedance data is shown on two displays “Excd-a” and
“Excd-b”.

Excd-a

Use the arrow keys to step

between the two exceedance dis-
plays.

Excd-b

2-14 824 Training Manual 3/22/01

 Time History


From either the “Excd-a” and “Excd-b” displays, press the
Check key to access the “Time History” display.

The Exceedance time history is triggered off of the selected

detector and uses a short Leq function to show actual energy.

PassBy Exceedance When the parameter, “Excd Trigger”, is set to “Passby” a

special event detector is selected that measures the Lmax,
Leq, and SEL of the highest event to raise and lower 10 dB
in SPL. It is used to capture single events such as a vehicle
or aircraft passby, or other event noises such as blasts or gas
jetting noise as required by certain ordinances or standards.
In addition to the levels measured, the date and time of the
Lmax and the duration of the event are recorded.

TSTART TEND
Duration
Passby’s
TMAX Lmax

10 dB

Only events that are longer than the minimum duration and
having Lmax greater than the SPL Excd Level 1 will be
recorded.

A time history of the PassBy exceedance can be recorded by

turning on the “Excd Time-Hist”.

3/22/01 Environmental Measurements 2-15

 The largest passby event will be shown in the PassBy view.

PassBy Measurement Whether or not you turn on the Exceedance history, the
PassBy function will automatically record the highest
passby to occur during the run time of the instrument.

You don’t have to enable the Exceed- To access this display, press the VIEW V key, scroll down to
ance History to get a passby mea- “PassBy” and press the Check c key.
surement. If you would like to record
each passby measurement, then it is
necessary to enable the Exceedance
History and select “PassBy” under
the “Excd Trigger” setting. The data
for the PassBy function can be
stored manually.

For the passby measurement, Lmax has to be higher than the

“SPL Excd Level 1”. It differs from the PassBy Exceedance
in that it does not require the minimum duration set in the
Exceedance History settings. It will record a passby event of
any duration.

Daily History

The Daily History is accessed from the VIEW  menu and

is a special 24 hour history which logs daily sound statistics
including the following:

• Leq 24 (equivalent energy level over 24 hour period)

• Ldn

• CNEL

• Ln’s

• Max

• Min

• Peak I

• Peak II

2-16 824 Training Manual 3/22/01

 The measurement period is from 12:00 midnight to 12:00
midnight each day.

Use the  arrow keys to step

between the two Daily displays.

Explanation of Ldn and CNEL Ldn and CNEL are similar to a 24 hour Leq except the night-
time hours are weighted.

The Ldn adds 10 dB to the Leq’s measured during the hours

of 10:00 PM to 7:00 AM.

CNEL is similar to Ldn except that 5 dB is added to the mea-

surement levels between 7:00 PM and 10:00 PM and 10 dB
are added between 10:00 PM to 7:00 AM.

These measurements are used because people tend to be

more sensitive to noise during the nighttime and early morn-
ing hours.

Hourly Statistics For each hour the Daily History logs the following:

• Hourly Leq

• Background Leq

• Hourly Excd Leq

3/22/01 Environmental Measurements 2-17

 Hourly Leq

The Hourly Leq is the equivalent sound level calculated over

an hour period for each hour during the day.

Background Leq

Background Leq can be considered The Background Leq is the total hourly energy (hourly Leq)
the Leq expected if the exceedances minus the total energy (event Leq) of any valid event during
had not occurred. that hour.

Hourly Excd Leq

The Hourly Excd Leq is the total energy for all exceedances
that occurred during that one hour period.

Hint: What happens if there is an exceedance at the change of the hour?

Since most events are rather short in duration, the hour is extended
until the exceedance ends (up to 30 seconds). If after 30 seconds the
exceedance has not ended, the exceedance is split and the new hour
begins. This slight deviation in timing creates no noticeable errors in
data and facilitates the proper calculation of Hourly Background Leq.

Metrics

The Metrics display provides comparative information for

DNL, CNEL, Excd Leq, Bkgd Leq and Leq for the elapsed
time or run time of the instrument.

The data in the Metrics display is The Metrics display differs from the Daily History in that
always recorded and saved with the the values are integrated over the run time of the instrument
broadband data. instead of a 24-hour period.

2-18 824 Training Manual 3/22/01

Use the  arrow keys to step
between the two Metrics displays.

DNL (Ldn)

The DNL (Day-Night Average Sound Level) is the equiva-

lent sound level for the entire measurement period with a
+10 dB weighting applied to all sounds occurring between
the time of 10:00 PM to 7:00 AM.

CNEL

CNEL is similar to Ldn except that 5 dB is added to the mea-

surement levels between 7:00 PM and 10:00 PM and 10 dB
are added between 10:00 PM to 7:00 AM.

These measurements are used because people tend to be

more sensitive to noise during the nighttime and early morn-
ing hours.

Background Leq

Background Leq can be considered The Background Leq is the total energy minus the total
the Leq expected if the exceedances energy (event Leq) of any valid event during the entire mea-
had not occurred. surement period.

Excd Leq

The Excd Leq is the total energy for all exceedances that
occurred the entire measurement period or run time of the
824.

3/22/01 Environmental Measurements 2-19

2-20 824 Training Manual 3/22/01
 CHAPTER

3 RT60 Measurements

The versatility of the 824 includes the measurement of RT60

or reverberation time. This capability combined with
advanced triggering features allows the use of a noise gener-
ator without an interconnecting cable to the 824.

Those of you involved in determining decay times of rooms,

theatres, or any acoustic space designed for a specific acous-
tic application or in analyzing the absorptive qualities of
walls, doors, barriers or partitions will find the 824 to be a
valuable tool in your arsenal.

What is an RT60 and how is it measured?

RT60 Defined Sound decay measurements are used to determine the sound
absorption characteristics of a room. This is also known as
the reverberation time or the decay time.

The reverberation time in a room at a given frequency is the

time required for the sound pressure level to decay from a
steady state value by 60 dB after the sound suddenly ceases.

For example: A room is excited with a gun blast or a balloon

pop and the maximum sound pressure level reached is 115
dB. RT60 is the amount of time it would take for the room to
absorb the acoustic energy such that the sound pressure level
reaches 55 dB. Typical values of reverberation times are
between .01 to 3.5 seconds.

Though RT60 specifies that the time be measured for a level

drop of 60 dB it is unlikely that 60 dB drop be obtained.
Therefore, RT60 is actually a slope function with the drop of

3/22/01 RT60 Measurements 3-1

 the level by some dB for some time and extrapolated to
obtain a time for a 60 dB drop

How does my 824 measure an RT60 measurements are usually made with real-time analyz-
RT60? ers with 1/3 octave filters. The 824 uses the high speed RTA
option to gather spectra at a rate of up to 400/second. These
spectra are stored in what is known as an autostore ByTime
record. The ByTime autostore records show each time slice
(2.5mS) as the sound is decaying in the room. The
“ByTime” display of the 824 shows each of the 1/3 octave
frequencies over time. The following diagram shows the
level versus time of a single frequency.

Level

ByTime Graph Slope of decay

∆T

∆ dB 5 dB
60 dB

Time
RT60

The curve above could be any 1/3 octave frequency from

12.5 Hz to 20 kHz. For each of these frequencies a ByTime
curve is generated. The slope of the decay part of the curve
determines the time it takes the sound to decay.

∆Τ
RT60 =
∆ dB

The slope is determined by using the least squares method

for a dB down setting chosen by the user.

3-2 824 Training Manual 3/22/01

Taking an RT60 Measurement

This next section will take you through a step by step pro-
cess for acquiring an RT60 measurement.

Exciting the Room To find out the absorption qualities of a particular room
using an RT60 measurement, you will have to energize the
room with some sound source. There are two basic methods
for energizing a room with sound:

• A continuous noise source such as a pink noise generator

and a speaker (preferably an omni-directional speaker).

• An impulsive noise source such as a starter pistol, canon,

balloon, etc.

Setting up the 824 for an RT60 For an RT60 measurement use the RTA instrument of the
measurement 824.

Step 1 To select the RTA instrument, press the SETUP 

key. Use the up and down arrow keys and high-


light either “RT60-A” or “RT60-B” and press the
Check key.

RT60-A and RT60-B Setups

There two setups named “RT60-A” and “RT60-B”. The

“RT60-A” setup is configured to gather data to measure an
RT60 by exciting a room with steady sate noise (typically
using a pink noise generator and speaker system). The
“RT60-B” setup is configured to measure an RT60 by excit-
ing a room with impulsive noise such as a gunshot or pop-
ping a balloon or paper bag.



Step 2 Press the SETUP key again. With “Edit Set-
tings” highlighted, press the Check key. The
following page shows the settings for RT60-A.

NOTE: The menus are the same for all

RTA instruments.

3/22/01 RT60 Measurements 3-3

 RT60-A Settings Menu and Submenus

3-4 824 Training Manual 3/22/01

See the 824 Reference Manual, Since the RT60-A setup is already configured to take a mea-
chapter 10, for details concerning surement using steady state noise, let’s setup our generator
each of the setup parameters. and speaker to energize a room with noise.

Place your 824

on a tripod out
of the near field
of the noise source

Step 3 Just to get a feel for an RT60 measurement, con-

figure your speaker, and 824 as shown above.

Hint: Before making an RT60 measurement keep the following in mind:

• The background noise in the room should be kept to a

minimum. If possible turn off any noise makers such as
HVAC systems. Shut all windows and doors and do it
during an appropriate time of day when your test will be
free of interference.

Caution: Wear hearing protection • Make sure you can energize the room with enough noise
when generating noise levels of 90 to get a valid measurement. 100 dB would be an ideal
dB or more. Remember that levels level but is not always achievable. Shoot for a level
will be greater near the noise source. between 60 to 80 dB.

• It is preferable to use an omni-directional speaker to get

uniform coverage in the room. If you have to use a single
speaker, direct its energy into a corner to obtain better
results.

WARNING! Be careful when driving your loudspeaker as pink noise has

equal energy per octave. Over driving them may cause fail-
ure. This is especially true for high frequency transducers
(tweeters) which may have reduced power handling capabil-
ities.

3/22/01 RT60 Measurements 3-5

You can trigger your pink noise ON Step 4 You will need to configure your generator (Larson
& OFF manually though you may Davis SRC20) to output pink noise in pulse mode
find pulses of noise more convenient. with an ON time of 2 seconds and an OFF time of
5 seconds. Unmute the generator to drive the
amplifier for a test run to check your levels in the
room. Adjust levels on the amplifier if necessary.


Step 5 If the levels are within 80 to 100 dB you are now
ready to take a measurement. Press the VIEW


key, highlight “Trigger” and press the right arrow
key. Select “Status” and press the Check key.

Trigger Status

The “Trigger Status” display will show these four states

sequentially as the measurement is taken:

• Stop

• Ready

• Armed

• Triggered

NOTE: Triggering is performed on Step 6 Press the RUN/STOP key on the 824 to put the
one frequency band (or Flat) as 824 in the “Ready” mode. Start the generator to
selected by the “Trigger Source” energize the room with noise. As the noise pulses
setting. If desired you may change ON and reaches a level > 80 dB the 824 will
this to a band that has the energy change to the “Armed Mode”. When the generator
profile that will be best to trigger pulses OFF and drops below 80 dB the 824 will
from. change to the trigger mode and start recording an
autostore. After 3 seconds the autostore will end
and the 824 will stop.

You now have an autostore record in memory from which

the RT60 can be calculated.

3-6 824 Training Manual 3/22/01

 Step 7 Press the VIEW  key, highlight “Autostore” and


press the right arrow key. Select RT60 and press
the Check key.

To easily access the RT60 menu to With the “Auto-Select” feature selected, a vertical line or

c
change the “RT60 dB Down” cursor will be positioned on the time sample that is 5 dB
parameter, press the Check key below the maximum level. A horizontal line will be drawn at
from the RT60 display. the level that is the number of dB down from the cursor
level. The RT60 will be calculated using the least squares
method on the data between these two points.

To view each frequency, use the up  and down  arrow

keys.

Hint: Due to the differing geometries and acoustic characteristics of some

l r
rooms, a perfectly linear decay curve may not always be obtained.
Using the left and right arrow keys a custom start point can be
chosen and the “RT60 dB Down” setting can be adjusted, as desired, to
bound the area of slope calculation.

Advanced RT60 Measurements

Since every room or situation may be different, it may be

necessary to make some adjustments to the standard settings
provided in “RT60-A” and “RT60-B”.

A more accurate appraisal of the reverberation time of the

room can be made by averaging together several measure-
ments possibly at varying locations.

Triggering A good understanding of the triggering menu and its capa-

bilities will help you better make setting choices for your
particular application. The diagram on the following page
discusses these five states:

3/22/01 RT60 Measurements 3-7

 Stop, Ready, Armed, Triggered, End/Then

STOP

R/S
Ready

Arm conditions met

Gather pretrigger data

R/S
Armed

Trig conditions met

R/S
Triggered

End conditions met Gather triggered data

Then Repeat End/Then

or Average

Then Stop
or Repeat done
or Average done

Arms when the selected Triggers when the selected Ends when the selected
condition is met condition is met condition is met

Immediately when arm condition is set Immediately when trigger condition is The RUN/STOP (R/S) key is pressed
to “Now” set to “Now”

Level is equal to or greater then or Level is equal to or greater then or Level is equal to or greater then or
less then a preset level for a certain less then a preset level for a certain less then a preset level for a certain
amount of time amount of time amount of time

Logic In line changes Logic In line changes Logic In line changes

A preset amount of time has passed A preset amount of time has passed A preset amount of time has passed
(“Time” setting) (“Time” setting) (“Time” setting)

A preset number of samples have A preset number of samples have A preset number of samples have
been taken been taken been taken

3-8 824 Training Manual 3/22/01

 
Customizing the Trigger Menu Following the diagram below, access the trigger settings by


pressing the SETUP key. With “Edit Settings RT60-A”
highlighted press the Check key. Scroll down to “Trigger
Setup” and press the right arrow key. From here you can cus-
tomize the trigger settings for a particular application.

Averaging

The average data does not take any To average several measurements together go to the “Then”
additional memory. Each additional menu and change “End then” to “Average”. You also need to
measurement will be averaged insitu change the “Average Count” to the number of additional
with the first. The END condition measurements you would like to average to the first. For
must be TIME or SAMPLES so that example, select 4 counts. For each location five triggered
the records are all identical lengths. measurements will be averaged together (the first one plus 4
averaged repeats).

3/22/01 RT60 Measurements 3-9

A pulsing noise generator may be Press the RUN/STOP key on the 824 to put the 824 in the
very helpful. Each pulse can trigger “Ready” mode. Start the generator to energize the room with
a new measurement without any user noise. As the noise pulses ON and reaches a level > 80 dB
intervention. the 824 will change to the “Armed Mode”. When the gener-
ator pulses OFF and drops below 80 dB the 824 will change
to the trigger mode and start recording an autostore. After 3
seconds the autostore will end and the 824 will be ready for
the next average. Repeat this four times until the 824 is in
the STOP mode. You now have five averaged records for
one location. Move to another location in the room and press
the RUN/STOP key again to average five more pulses as a
new autostore record.

End Time

It is very likely the room you are measuring may have a

shorter or longer reverberation time than the 3 seconds
selected in the “End” menu. If the reverberation time is
much shorter it is not necessary to store additional unneeded
samples which would take more memory. If the reverbera-
tion time is longer you will need to increase the “End” time.

Trigger and Arm Levels

As you get a feel for the sound in the room and the triggering
capabilities of the 824 you will be able to fine tune the 824
to optimize room measurements. The trigger and arm levels
can be easily adjusted to work with your noise source.
Remember that the level adjustment is also tied to trigger
time and arm time. The sound must meet both the level that
is set for a certain amount of time before it changes to the
next state.

Autostore Display

Use the “Autostore” display to see the energy distribution in

the Leq and Max spectra.



Press the VIEW key and select “Autostore”. Press the


right arrow key to open up the “Autostore” menu. Select


“Autostore” again and press the right arrow key. High-
light “Leq” or “Max” and press the Check key.

3-10 824 Training Manual 3/22/01

 The following diagram shows the key presses necessary to
view the Leq and Max displays:

   
 


From the Leq, Max, or Min display, pressing the up and


down arrow keys will take you from one autostore
record to the next. Pressing the Check key will put you in
the “Autostore” check menu. From the “Autostore” check
menu you can view the ByTime spectra and ByTime graph
(each frequency over time).

  

NOTE: If an averaged measurement
record gets corrupted, perhaps by some
extraneous noise, that one record can be
deleted using the Delete Last function.
See chapter 3 in the 824 Reference man-
ual for an explanation of this function.

3/22/01 RT60 Measurements 3-11

3-12 824 Training Manual 3/22/01
 824 Training Manual

Index
Numerics Environmental Noise .............................. 2-1
Excd Leq ................................................ 2-19
824 configurations .................................. 1-3 Excd Time .............................................. 2-12
Excd Trigger ........................................... 2-12
A Exceedance History ................................ 2-8
advanced feature ..................................... 2-7 Exceedance Time History ...................... 2-10
Aircraft noise .......................................... 2-1 Exporting Data ....................................... 1-23
Arrow Keys ............................................ 1-7
Audiometer ............................................. 1-4 F
Autostore Display ................................... 3-10 Fast Fourier Transform ........................... 1-4
Averaging ............................................... 3-9
H
B
Hourly Excd Leq .................................... 2-18
Background Leq ..................................... 2-18,
Hourly Leq ............................................. 2-18
2-19
Hourly Statistics ..................................... 2-17
Backlight ................................................. 1-3
Battery I
power ............................................... 1-2
Battery Life ............................................. 1-2 ID screen ................................................ 1-2
Broadband Measurements ...................... 1-11 Industrial noise ....................................... 2-2
buffer ...................................................... 2-10 instantaneous SPL .................................. 1-9
Building noise ......................................... 2-2 Integrating sound level meter ................. 1-4
Interval History ...................................... 1-10,
C 2-6
Interval period ........................................ 1-10
Calibration .............................................. 1-17
Interval Report ........................................ 1-26
Check key ............................................... 1-7
CNEL ...................................................... 2-17, K
2-19
Community Noise ................................... 2-3 Key
Construction noise .................................. 2-2 On/Off ............................................. 1-2
Content of Reports .................................. 1-23 Keys
check ............................................... 1-7
D Data ................................................. 1-5
PAUSE ............................................ 1-6
Daily History .......................................... 2-16 PRINT ............................................. 1-5
date of occurrence ................................... 2-11 RESET ............................................ 1-6
Download Data ....................................... 1-19 RUN/STOP ..................................... 1-6
duration ................................................... 2-10 SETUP ............................................ 1-5
TOOLS ............................................ 1-5
E VIEW .............................................. 1-5
End Time ................................................ 3-10

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824 Training Manual

L SLM Data ............................................... 1-17

slope ....................................................... 3-2
LCD Screen Backlight ............................ 1-3 Sound spectrum analyzer ....................... 1-4
LCD Screen Contrast .............................. 1-3 SSA Measurements ................................ 1-8
Ldn .......................................................... 2-17 Storing Data ............................................ 1-18
Level versus Time Graph ....................... 1-8 Summary Report .................................... 1-23
LOG Instrument ...................................... 2-4
Logging ................................................... 1-4 T
lowest instantaneous SPL ....................... 1-12
Taking a Measurement ........................... 1-17
M Time History .......................................... 1-8,
2-4, 2-15
main menu keys ...................................... 1-5 Time history period ................................ 1-8
Metrics .................................................... 2-18 time history period ................................. 2-4
minimum duration .................................. 2-15 Time History Report ............................... 1-25
Time synchronization ............................. 2-7
O Tonality analyzer .................................... 1-4
On/Off ..................................................... 1-2 Translating the Data ............................... 1-22
Trigger and Arm Levels ......................... 3-10
P Trigger Menu .......................................... 3-9
Triggered ................................................ 3-8
PassBy Exceedance ................................ 2-15
Triggering ............................................... 2-12,
Power Key Functions ............................. 1-2
3-7
Powering on the 824 ............................... 1-2
Printing a Report ..................................... 1-23
Product noise .......................................... 2-3
V
push-off ................................................... 1-7 Viewing Data .......................................... 1-17
push-on ................................................... 1-7 Viewing Instrument IDs ......................... 1-4

R W
Railroad noise ......................................... 2-2 What you will Learn ............................... 1-1
Ready ...................................................... 3-8
Real-time analyzer .................................. 1-4
Recalling Data ........................................ 1-18
Recreational noise .................................. 2-3
Reports .................................................... 1-23
Resetting Data ........................................ 1-17
Road traffic ............................................. 2-1
RT60 Defined ......................................... 3-1
RTA Data ................................................ 1-18

S
screen contrast ........................................ 1-3
Short Leq ................................................ 1-10
simple measurement ............................... 1-13

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