Noise Dosimeter?

[Fred Sturm]

Diane Hofstetter wrote:
> 
> List,
> 
>   Has anyone ever used a noise dosimeter to measure the sound level you are
> exposed to on the job?  Does anyone have access to a dosimeter?
> 
>   I am interested in researching just how much noise exposure a tech really
> gets in a normal days' worth of work.
> 
>   Please email me at  dianepianotuner@hotmail.com.
> 
>   Thanks!
>   Diane

	I'm certainly very interested in this. My university has an office of
worker safety, which purports to measure noise levels of work places
among other things. I haven't yet got around to calling them (one of
those things perpetually on a list of "to do"). 
	Can you fill us in on "dosimeters?" I assume from the name it is
something like those meters that workers in nuclear related facilities
wear to measure cumulative radiation, only for noise. What does a
dosimeter record? Number of "events" within various decible ranges?
Overall ambiant levels? Some sort of combination? Is such a thing
designed to have an input devise worn close to the ear? Or just an
instrument you have to lug around and find somewhere appropriate to sit
it?
	I once figured each tuning takes a couple thousand or more strikes of
hammer against string, sometimes several thousand. In a small practice
room whose sound absorbtion material has been painted a few times . . . 
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico