Term: Weighting

SPL meters can be weighted to measure either the typical response of human hearing at loud volume levels (C-weighting) or the response of human hearing at moderate volumes (A-weighting). dBA is used for environmental noise measurements while dBC is used to measure and calibrate sound systems. Z-weighting (dBZ) measures all frequencies equally. The more modern K-weighting is similar to C-weighting and is applied to digital loudness meters used for audio recordings and movies.