Is there any opposite name for Decibel?

Sorry, I am not sure if it’s right place to ask such things, but due to fact a lot of us work with audio plugins I decided to ask it. And lot of you could ask for what I ask such things, why I need it? So I answer in advance: I just want to know it :slight_smile:
It also could be handy when naming some variables or methods in programming. But the main reason is “I am just inquisitive”. Does it make a sense? :slight_smile:

But to the point:

According to definition of decibel it’s “logarithmic unit of measurement used to express…bla bla bla”

So in audio we often convert linear value from range 0 to 1 to logarithmic scale for example like that:
double result = 20.0 * log10(valueInRange_0_1)
(of course we need to menage situation when valueInRange_0_1 = 0, but leave it now, it’s not the case)

So for example for valueInRange_0_1 = 0.5 result will be about -6 and we can call it “-6 decibels”.

But the question is how we can call valueInRange_0_1 = 0.5:
“0.5 OF WHAT” ?

I know in audio we can call it “0.5 gain”, or “0.5 of linear value”. But is there any general term to use as opposite to decibel?

percent?

percent !!! ???
Hey! I agree it makes some sense, but please keep in mind percent are values in range of 0 to 100, not 0 to 1.
And also calling for example value of audio gain as a percent?? It sounds strange. I think “linear value” is still more relevant.
Isn’t there anything else?

The logarithmic value is level, and the linear value is often referred to as gain.

See the Decibel class for that.

3 Likes

Of digital full scale. (0dBFS). However, floating point makes that more complicated because 1.0 is not the maximum sample value. You can go insanely more high in decibels when staying as floating point. However, the 0DBFS is the limit for integer samples like what 99.99% of audio hardware devices expect.

6 Likes

There’s no “unit” I know of, for plain ratios. 5V / 2V is just 2.5 because the units cancel out.

Percent is one common way of describing a plain ratio, which, as you noticed, describes a ratio as multiple of hundredths.

1 Like