Sound Converter
Convert sound and signal levels: bel, decibel, neper.
1 dB = 0.1 B
About the sound converter
Decibels (dB) are a logarithmic way to express ratios of power, voltage, or sound intensity — each 10 dB step is a factor of 10 in power, and 20 dB is a factor of 10 in amplitude. The bel (B) is the parent unit (1 B = 10 dB), and the neper (Np) is the natural-log equivalent used in control theory and physics. This converter lets you switch between bel, decibel, and neper without juggling logarithm bases.
Frequently asked questions
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How many decibels in a bel?
Exactly 10. The decibel is one-tenth of a bel and is overwhelmingly more common in audio and RF engineering.
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How do I convert decibels to a neper?
1 Np ≈ 8.686 dB. Multiply nepers by 8.686 to get decibels (or dB by 0.1151 to get nepers).
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Is dB a linear scale?
No. dB is logarithmic. A 3 dB increase doubles power; 10 dB is 10× power; 20 dB is 100× power.