Full transcript
0:00So, you want to know what octave bands
0:02are.
0:07Octave bands are a way of breaking sound
0:09into sections based on frequency.
0:11Each band groups together sounds within
0:13a certain range, kind of like organizing
0:15music by pitch, from low bass to high
0:18treble.
0:19So, what does it look like?
0:21This is essentially a bar graph. Each
0:24bar represents a range of frequencies.
0:26That's an octave band display.
0:28Each band doubles in frequency as you
0:30move up the scale. For example, from 125
0:33hertz, 250, 500, 1,000, and so on. Okay,
0:38let's get technical.
0:39In an octave band, the upper frequency
0:41is exactly twice the lower frequency.
0:43If you divide those even further, you
0:45can get 1/3 octave bands, 1/6 octave
0:48bands, or 1/12 octave bands. They're
0:50less commonly used, but still effective.
0:53These give more detail, which is useful
0:55for pinpointing specific problem
0:57frequencies. So, why do we use octave
0:59bands?
1:00They help us understand how noise energy
1:02is spread across the frequency range.
1:04For example, in workplace noise
1:05assessments, octave bands show whether
1:07the problem is low frequency, from
1:09machinery, or high frequency hiss from
1:11air tools. It's a practical way to link
1:14what we measure to what we actually
1:15hear.
1:16So, octave bands, now you know.