A Survey of Room Noise in Telephone Locations

This paper describes a survey made to determine the range of magnitudes of room noise present in telephone locations. Measurements were made in a total of 250 locations in New York City and environs, distributed among businesses and residences in accordance with telephone traffic distribution. In each location, measurements were made by a marginal audibility method using the human ear as a part of the measuring device, and by a visual indicating meter. A brief description is included of the apparatus employed with each of these methods. Results are presented for measurements made in various classes of rooms, under winter and summer conditions.