I think you're right that there may not be such a chart from an independent source, unless there is either an old one or a very recent one that I'm unaware of. As part of our work on the ARTE database (Buchholz & Weisser, 2018), we reviewed all the available noise-level databases we could find (up till 2018) and you can find several useful references there (Weisser et al, 2019), beginning with the seminal report by Pearsons et al (1977) on indoor speech and noise levels. Some of the sampled indoor noise levels in the "home" category were within the 35 - 40 dBA range (see Figure 6 in Peasons et al).
In general, the within-category variance in reported measurements as the above seems to be large. Therefore, even if a given quiet apartment or classroom measured 37 dBA background noise level, it could be difficult to generalize it to arbitrary environments, because individual sounds could easily dominate the total noise level when it is so low. For example, the quietest environment we reported in ARTE was a university library (46 dBA; Table I, Weisser et al. 2019). We attempted to list all the sound objects that could be confidently identified during the two-minute duration of that recording, which turned out to be a rather specific list of low-level sounds (Weisser, 2018, Figure 5.3). This is in contrast with the noisiest environments we recorded that were dominated by fewer and nondescript sound types (Ibid, figure 5.4).
Pearsons, Karl S, Bennett, Ricarda L., Fidell, Sanford: Speech levels in various noise environments. Technical Report EPA600/1-77-025, Office of Health and Ecological Effects, Office of Research and Development, US EPA, May 1977.
Weisser, A. Complex Acoustic Environments: Concepts, Methods, and Auditory Perception. PhD thesis, Macquarie University, 2018.
Weisser, A., Buchholz, J. M., Oreinos,
C., Badajoz-Davila, J., Galloway, J., Beechey, T., & Keidser, G.
(2019). The Ambisonic Recordings of Typical Environments (ARTE)
database. Acta Acustica united with Acustica, 105(4), 695-713.
On Wed, Jan 14, 2026, at 8:53 AM, Nuno Diniz wrote:
Hi all,
I've searched for decibel comparison tables online but failed to get a "reliable" one that is not from a company or some random site. Could you provide me with some from a university, acoustic department/institution, etc .. ?
Also, for a current project, how would you describe a value of 37 dbA or LAeq?
Many thanks in advance
Best regards
Dr. ir. Nuno Diniz