Noise is a constant and ongoing health hazard across many workplaces and industries worldwide. The effective management of noise-related health effects is primarily dependent on accurate measurements of sound levels. The accuracy and feasibility of smartphone sound level meter applications (apps) for noise monitoring in occupational and environmental scenarios was tested. Ten iOS and Android smartphones were used to conduct sound level measurements with five apps for each respective platform. Five different sound signals were utilized to represent the spectra present in an occupational environment, at four different reference sound levels (60, 70, 80, and 90 dBA) for a total of 1,000 tests. A calibrated Larson Davis LxT sound level meter was used as a reference. Results suggest that across all four measured sound levels the difference in smartphone app performance on the two platform is fairly nuanced. However, at the 90dBA sound level Android apps consistently underreport sound levels. This study concludes that some apps have the possibility to be appropriate for use only as screening tools and cannot be used for accurate determination of sound levels.

噪声是全球许多工作场所和行业中持续不断的健康危害。噪声相关的健康影响的有效管理主要取决于声音水平的准确测量。测试了智能手机声级计应用程序（apps）在职业和环境场景中进行噪声监视的准确性和可行性。十个iOS和Android智能手机分别用于针对每个平台的五个应用程序来进行声级测量。利用五种不同的声音信号来代表职业环境中存在的频谱，以四种不同的参考声级（60、70、80和90 dBA）进行总共1000次测试。校准的Larson Davis LxT声级计用作参考。结果表明，在所有四个测得的声级上，两个平台上智能手机应用程序性能的差异都相当细微。但是，在90dBA声音水平下，Android应用程序始终会低估声音水平。这项研究得出的结论是，某些应用程序有可能仅适合用作筛选工具，而不能用于准确确定声级。