decibel
Original archive entry. The text, images and links below are kept as they were written.
The decibel is a ratio of two numbers, equal to the tenth root of ten or about 1.259. It is mostly used as the ratio of two power levels. If a radio receiver, playing at a certain "volume" level. is turned up until the acoustic power output has increased by 25.9%, its new level is one decibel above the original level.