83 dB too loud for a daily drivers exhaust?
 

I'm almost set on getting the milltek Primary non resonated exhaust. I like the sound but it's hard to tell how loud it is online. I've read it's about 83 dB, is this too loud for a daily driver? I need some opinions.

85d is max exposure in an industrial setting so it depends if its 83d all the time or only at full throttle.

Legal exhaust noise levels for most areas run between 85 and 90db so you should be OK at 83.
But... yours could be different so you may want to check it out.
And... keep in mind the closer you get to the limits the more likely you are to get checked up on even though you are compliant.

Time weighted to 8 hours exposure at DBA slow response. (Finally a subject I an actually an "expert" in!)

Another website I saw rated it at 70 dB but the distance was at 10 feet long. Ideally db should be measured at 3 feet correct?

Then you know 83db at cruising speed will be extremely freaking loud!

Depends entirely on your sensitivity to NVH (or local laws). I've daily driven motorcycles that were about 103dB @ 3 feet. And My FR-S peaks over 102Db @ 70 feet and full throttle.

Yep! But greatly reduced inside the car and the industrial limit is 110db for up to 15 minutes. So as long as nobody is cruising beside you in an open convertible for 15.01 minutes all is good.


Our legal limit for exhaust here is 87db (which seems like a pretty arbitrary number really).


There is also a set standard on how the "pass by" exhaust volume is measure that I just posted on another thread the other day but be damned if I can remember which thread right now!


Now I am curious and am gonna throw the meter on my TRD exhaust.

Anything over 90 db (whether cruise or WOT) gets annoying to me now (unless at a track). Below 85 db is not bad at all for a daily driver, but it may seem worse if there is excessive drone or resonance.

Remember decibel ratings are logarethmic so even seemingly small changes from say 87-92 db are significant when it comes to perceived loudness *to me.

I have a 40 page training PPT on the subject if anybody is really bored!


Wolf nailed it anyway with the word "perceived" since what I think is too loud, the next guy may think isn't even starting to get loud.


I don't think my TRD is "loud" but my wife can find me across a large busy parking lot just by sound!!!

With loud, drony exhausts I've found that its all about gear selection...my exhaust drones like a bitch at 2000rpm but is quiet as a mouse at 3000 then absolutely roars at 4000 and above...so you basically have to compromise fuel economy to keep the noise out of the cabin with the louder pipes

And mine peaks at 120db and my hearing is fine...as long as you speak very loudly...:D

It's the other way around. Going from 87 to 92 more than doubles the amplitude of the sound, but it doesn't sound like it to our ears. We only perceive a change of five equal steps up the scale. To actually perceive a doubling of loudness, you have to double the decibels, say from 50 to 100 db.

I can easily perceive a 5 db increase...I used to live near train tracks and I could tell when those bastards switched to the 110 db max horns from other horns that were "only" 96-100 or 100-105 db (I used a decibel meter to verify it for myself)...and yes I know that going from 105 to 110 db is even more significant than 87 to 92 db...

I'm pretty sure that a vocal conversation is somewhere around 70-75 dB.. So 85 really isn't that loud. People routinely listen to sounds in excess of 100 dB without being bothered... You just don't do it all the time or it gets annoying. A drum set is typically rated at 120 dB and that's loud as shit. The loudest possible sound that can exist in our atmosphere is 212 dB because after that it's a shock wave (ie explosion).

Also that logarithmic function is related to the energy in the waveform that a listening device perceives. If I recall correctly, each decibel is supposed to be an individually distinguishable loudness to our ear, and the energy required to go up 1 decibel is twice that of the one below that. Hearing damage is a function of exposure loudness and time so look it up.