A section of three trumpets produces 88 dB.

Question

How many dB will be produced by a big-band section of 18 trumpets? Assume all trumpets produce an equal sound intensity and round your answer to the nearest 0.1 dB

Answer 1

Mulan,

 

Assuming the sound of the trumpets is additive, meaning that three trumpets will sound three times as intense as one, what you need to do is the following:

 

Find the actual sound intensity level. (Remember that dB are logarithmic measures.) Multiply the intensity by 18/3, then convert it to decibels.

 

Let me know if you need more help with this. I could pull out a physics formula, but I prefer using just what you have available at the moment.