Electrical Engineering Glossary Definition for dB

Definition

Decibels: A method for specifying the ratio of two signals.

dB = 10 times the log of the ratio of the power of the two signals. This is equal to 20 times the ratio of their voltages, if the signals are driving equal impedances.

Decibels are also used to describe a signal level by comparing it to a reference level. The reference is usually defined as 0dB and the dB value of the signal is 10 times the log of the signal's power over that of the reference. A letter is sometimes added to signify the reference. For instance, dBm is relative to 0 dBm = 1mW.

Synonyms

• Decibel

See Also

• B
• Dynamic Range
• A-Weighting
• Signal-to-Noise Ratio
• dBm
• SINAD
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