Norsonic nor1216, Instruction Manual

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12 Chapter 4
Technical description
100 10 k 20 k 1 k
0
1
2
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4
Frequency [Hz]
+/- 30 deg – Horizontal reference
Directional response
An outdoor microphone system like Nor1216 may
form a part of a sound level meter when applied for
environmental noise monitoring. The combination of
microphone and instrument shall therefore satisfy all
requirements in the international standards for sound
level meters, specified in IEC 61672-1. Ideally, the mi-
crophone shall have the same sensitivity for sound
from any direction. The IEC 61672-1 specifies toler-
ance limits for the directional response.
The directional response of a microphone is the ra-
tio of the free field response at a particular frequency
as a function of angle of sound incidence to the re-
sponse in the reference direction.
The upper adjacent figure shows the directional re-
sponse for Nor1216, when the reference axis is verti-
cal, for the frequencies 1000 Hz, 4000 Hz and 8000
Hz.
IEC 61672-1 specifies tolerance limits for any fre-
quency. The limits are depending on the angle from
the reference axis and the standard specify tolerance
limits for angles up to ± 30°, up to ± 90° and up to ±
150° from the reference axis. The lower adjacent figure
shows the typical max. deviation for the sector up to
± 30° from a horizontal reference axis together with the
applicable tolerance limits for a Class 1 sound level
meter.