An app for that
I’m starting to understand the utility of “There’s an app for that…”™. For the longest time, I lived in a world where the iTouch was just something seen in ads. But with the inevitability of all things fashionable, some of the family gave up their tried and true and went over to the “dark side”. Not me, but one does get sucked into the vortex.
We arrived home after our working days ended, and with no kids in tow, and nothing in the fridge, we opted to have someone serve us our supper (for a price, of course). Picture us; in a local franchise eatery (Boston Pizza, the one from that guy on Dragon’s Den) My pasta was delicious, but the ambient noise was almost to the point of really annoying. I mentioned that I’d like to have a sound level meter with me, just to get a sense of how loud things were.
You guessed it. There IS an app for that. Several, actually. Within minutes, the table iTouch informed me that we were cruising at about 73 dB. Wiki further clarified things – a volume level similar to a vacuum cleaner at the end of my arm. Now, I don’t expect to have people cleaning around me while supper is on the table, so there was certain chagrin. Offset by the real satisfaction that comes from knowing why.
And a sound level meter has practical uses. The next time those burly bikers pull up beside us at a stop light, we can point and say “Too loud! 89 dB”. The bikers won’t hear me (I hope), but I’ll know for sure that I’m right to point. At home, I measured the hair dryer (that raises my blood pressure); the noisy nuisance actually redlined the app.