[pianotech] Discovery surprise

[Ron Nossaman]

Sitting at my desk during breakfast, with a dead internet connection, I 
got to playing with a cheapo sound level meter (Realistic, Radio Shack), 
and discovered something I thought interesting. On the 80db scale 
setting, a normal conversational voice level is in the zero+- range, 
right about there from maybe 10cm from the mic. Interestingly, so is a 
high frequency florescent bulb, about the same level from the same 
distance. These are the florescents that screw into the same fixture as 
an incandescent bulb. I can't get a frequency reading on the bulbs, but 
they're sure a lot louder than I expected. We're apparently steeped in a 
sea of noise that we're not entirely aware of, wherever we go that these 
bulbs are used. Regular incandescents, and long tube florescents (shop 
lights) don't do that.

Fun stuff from the cheap seats.
Ron N