| | Decibels | Example | |
| Threshold of Pain | 140 | Jet Engine (75ft away) | Painful & Dangerous |
| | 130 | Jet Aircraft during take off (300ft away) |
| Threshold of Feeling | 120 | Hard Rock Band (with amplification) | Deafening |
| | 110 | Accelerating Motorcycle at a few feet away. |
| | 100 | Car Horn at 10ft / Footbal Crowd / Printing Press | Very Loud |
| | 90 | Pneumatic Concrete Breaker |
| Threshold of hearing loss | 80 | Café with sound reflecting surfaces | Loud |
| (long term exposure) | 70 | B-757 Aircraft cabin during flight / Crackling of food wrapper (2ft away) |
| | 60 | Near Road Traffic (when greater than 55dB road & rail annoy most people) | Moderate |
| Speech 50-70dB | 50 | Office Environment |
| | 40 | Soft Stereo Music at home | Faint |
| | 30 | Home environment without stereo, late at night |
| | 20 | Whisper / Audiometric testing room | Very Faint |
| | 10 | Russle of leaves in breeze / Human breathing |
| Threshold of hearing | 0 | |
