Nelson D. Lewis
William A. Russell, Jr.
Environmental Noise Prog., U.S. Army Ctr. for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine Provisional), Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21010-5422
Automated monitoring of low level ambient noise levels presents many challenges. The obvious challenge is to have a noise monitor with a low noise floor, less than 20 dBA, so that the ambient can be monitored. Other challenges include designing a lightweight system that can be backpacked to the monitoring site, and the site selection. Site selection criteria include protecting the monitor from direct sunlight and heat, and locating the microphone so that the influence on the measurements from rustling leaves and wind will be minimal. This paper presents the results of our learning curve from three studies of low level ambient noise.