Decibel: dB sound level meter
Vlad Polyanskiy
A sound-level and noise-exposure app that also documents a headphone-based hearing check and audiogram history.
What Decibel: dB sound level meter does
Decibel combines environmental sound measurements and analysis with a headphone-based hearing check. The publisher documents previous hearing-test results and audiogram export to Apple Health, plus noise dose and measurement-reporting tools. A free plan is available; subscriptions cover advanced analysis and expanded saving/export. The hearing check is a consumer tool and its documentation does not establish diagnostic accuracy.
How it compares
Hearing checks as well as NIOSH-style noise measurements
Decibel combines sound-level reports with a headphone hearing check and Apple Health export. NIOSH Sound Level Meter focuses on environmental noise exposure rather than checking your hearing.
Paid external-microphone access versus NIOSH’s free app
Decibel includes external-microphone support in its subscription offering. NIOSH Sound Level Meter is free and also supports a calibrated external microphone.
Features
Hearing checks & protection
- Supported: Hearing screening2
- Supported: Separate ear results
- Supported: Hearing-result history
- Supported: Hearing-result export3
- Supported: Apple Health integration
- Supported: Validated headphone setup4
- Supported: Sound-level measurement
- Supported: Noise-exposure dose
- Supported: Microphone calibration
- Conditional: External measurement microphone5
- Conditional: Noise-data export6
- Supported: Test headphonesThe publisher lists AirPods 2/3/4, AirPods Max, AirPods Pro 1/2, wired Apple EarPods and specified Beats/Powerbeats models; quiet surroundings and 50% phone volume are instructed.
- Supported: Noise metricsLAeq
Availability & access
- Supported: Ongoing free core functionality1
Privacy & data
- Supported: Audio processingOn device
- Not supported: Audio sent off device
- The publisher explicitly describes a free plan; exact feature limits may change and advanced features remain paid.
- A consumer hearing check, not a diagnostic or validated clinical assessment. The developer website links the exact Apple ID 1227650795.
- Exports the audiogram to Apple Health; no general file format is established.
- Publisher-documented supported/calibrated headphone list; this is not an independent validation of diagnostic accuracy.
- External microphone support is described among subscription features.
- The listing places unlimited saving/export and supported export tools in the subscription offering.
App Store ratings & reviews
Praise
- Reviewers describe convenient sound-level displays, frequency analysis or saved reporting for music, household and venue checks. These are user impressions, not independent validation of accuracy or safe exposure decisions.
Complaints
- Reports from 2022–2026 object to subscription prompts, renewal/cancellation confusion, paid-feature boundaries or previously purchased access. These reports do not establish current plan prices or a verified billing fault.
- Some users report freezing, failed recordings/playback or saving/sharing problems, with a cluster of video-save reports around June 2025 and one external-microphone freeze report in July 2026. Others describe confusing instructions or audio routing; no app-wide cause or current fix is inferred.
- A few older reviewers express concern about permissions or the breadth/clarity of the privacy policy. Those opinions are not a verification of collection, sale or transfer practices.
Mixed reports
- Other reviewers say the free option met their needs or became accessible after finding how to dismiss the upgrade screen. Positive free-use reports coexist with onboarding/paywall complaints across changing releases.
- User impressions of the hearing-test workflow differ, including one negative January 2026 report and several positive older comments. These are not clinical accuracy evidence and do not replace a professional hearing assessment.