Sound Pressure Levels (SPL)
(How Loud?)
There is much discussion about what sound pressure levels should be used in a worship environment. I would say that of all audio related questions we receive, “How loud do you run your services?” is always near the top of the list. There is of course a wide range of opinions as to the SPL range should be in church. At Revive, we shoot for levels which provide good energy for the worship experience, while always maintaining a mindset toward hearing safety. We have a professional SPL meter at the front of house mix position at Revive. This meter is always within direct sight of the sound engineer as well as visible to our attenders. The settings for proper measurement are very important. We measure our environments “A” weighted, with a range between 50-130 dB, with a slow response. Utilizing these settings, we shoot for a range between 82-90 dB for music and 67-75 dB for speech.
Here is a link to a paper posted by OSHA http://www.oshanoise.com/osha_standard.html
You will notice that the standards set forth by OSHA add a very important factor, TIME. All standards are referenced in relation to a time factor (i.e. PEL: The permissible exposure limit (PEL) for noise is 95 dBA, as a four-hour time-weighted average (TWA). The PEL is also referred to as a 100 percent “dose” noise exposure). As you can see, at these levels, attenders are in no danger of hearing damage during a normal length worship service, especially since an average worship set usually lasts less than 30 minutes. To further understand that a maximum SPL of 95 dBA during a worship set is actually only occurring for a few seconds during each song.
With all of this being said, one of the most important recommendations we can make is to include your leadership in determining the levels for your particular facility. This takes both the pressure and responsibility off of your mix engineer. Another is to always have a professional SPL meter in front of your audio engineer. With these two protocols in place, you have created a safe place for your engineer to create an environment where your members can experience the presence of God, distraction-free.