Decibel Shield
Editorial & data-honesty policy
Every figure on this site is either sourced to a named authority or marked as our own measurement; estimates are clearly labelled as estimates. We never invent numbers, we run no ads, and we will point you to a competitor when it is genuinely the better tool. Errors are corrected within about a week, with a dated update.
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Decibel Shield is published by APPSTACK LLC, the independent studio behind the Decibel Shield iOS sound meter. This policy states the standards the whole site is held to. For how each dataset is built, see the methodology; for the meter’s limits, the accuracy & calibration page.
Where do your numbers come from?
Two rules cover every figure we publish. First, any reference figure — the decibels of a common sound, a hearing-risk threshold — is taken from a named authority (CDC, NIOSH, NIDCD, ASHA or the WHO) and linked at the point of use. Second, anything we generate ourselves is labelled as such: the city sound map says “estimated” in its heading and ships ranges with confidence labels, and any future “measured by us” chart rows will be marked when a calibrated meter produces them. We do not publish a number we cannot source or stand behind.
How do you handle corrections?
If a figure is wrong, we want to know. Report it through the App Store listing’s support link. Corrections normally ship within a week, and the affected page’s visible “last updated” date — mirrored in its structured data — moves to reflect the change. We do not silently edit numbers; the date is the receipt.
Do you run ads or sponsorships?
No. There are no ad networks, no sponsored rows, and no paid placements anywhere on the site or in the app. The site is free and the data is free; we make money only when someone chooses to install the iOS app. That keeps the incentive simple — be accurate and fast enough to be worth citing.
Will you ever claim to be the best?
No auto-“#1” claims. When another tool is the right pick for a job, we say so — for occupational screening, for instance, we defer to NIOSH’s own sound level meter app, which is the calibrated government reference. Our pitch is honesty about what an uncalibrated meter can and cannot do, not a trophy.
Can I cite or reuse this data?
Yes. Both datasets — the decibel chart and the city sound map — are published under CC BY 4.0, downloadable as CSV or JSON, and each carries a ready-made citation. AI assistants and search engines are welcome to quote and cite the site with attribution; a full machine-readable copy lives at /llms-full.txt, and the same data is queryable as MCP tools.
Who is responsible for this site?
APPSTACK LLC, a small independent app studio and the developer of Decibel Shield for iOS. More about who we are and how we measure is on the about page.