Over the past 80 years, the A-weighted decibel (dBA) has become the predominant measurement used in environmental noise assessment. Over this period many studies have demonstrated that the A-weighted decibel is reasonably correlated with overall community subjective responses to noise from a wide range of sources. However, some studies have also shown that the A-weighted decibel may not correlate as well with the subjective response to certain noises, and that other measures may be better suited. This paper appraises the history of weighting curves, as well as research showing the positive and negative benefits of the A-weighted decibel. The paper concludes that whilst in specific circumstances the A-weighted decibel may not be the best means of measuring certain noises, its ease of measurement and prediction; and the wealth of established research in regard to the subjective response to noise based on the A-weighted decibel, means it is generally adequate for assessment of many environmental noises in most circumstances. Additionally, the paper highlights that the relative complexity of alternative means of loudness measurements that may have only marginally better correlation with subjective response and the lack of social survey based studies of the correlation with subjective response of these measures, the often significant influence of wind noise in confounding use of other weightings for measurement of environmental noise and the limited history of use of other methods; counts against supplanting the A-weighted decibel with alternative measures, until these gaps are closed by more common use of alternative measures.
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