NVH Lab: Car Noise Meter

Turn your phone into a practical car noise meter, sound level meter and noise diagnosis tool. NVH Lab helps drivers measure cabin sound, diagnose why a car is loud, and compare repeatable drive tests. Use it to establish a baseline, document a new hum, wind noise or rattle, and check whether a tire, road, or vehicle change altered the sound you experience. CAR NOISE METER — dB AND PERCEIVED LOUDNESS Record A-weighted cabin sound levels during a repeatable route, and save the test conditions so your next result is easier to compare. Alongside the level in dBA, NVH Lab computes perceived loudness in sones (ISO 532-1), which is the part a dB figure alone cannot tell you: two cabins can measure the same dBA and still sound noticeably different to sit in. FREQUENCY SPECTRUM See where sound energy appears across the frequency range. The spectrogram helps distinguish low-frequency rumble from mid-frequency hum and high-frequency hiss. NOISE DIAGNOSIS — WHY IS MY CAR LOUD? The guided diagnosis reads your recordings across speeds and road surfaces — with community data when available — and names the most likely cause: tire roar, wind and seals, engine or exhaust drone, or rattles. See the evidence, get fixes ranked by cost and effort, then prove the result with a before-and-after project. BEFORE-AND-AFTER TESTS Compare the same vehicle before and after new tires, insulation, maintenance, or a repair. Matched route, speed, phone position, and weather make the result more useful. GARAGE AND COMMUNITY Keep vehicle-specific recordings in your garage, follow model discussions, and contribute privacy-protected aggregate results when you choose to make a session public. Public feeds never expose recording coordinates. BUILT FOR REPEATABILITY NVH Lab flags clipped or unstable recordings and preserves test context. It is designed for relative comparisons with the same device, not as a replacement for a calibrated professional sound-level meter or a mechanical inspection. Use NVH Lab for: - Car cabin noise measurement and sound level meter readings in dB - Noise diagnosis: tire roar, wind noise, drone, rattles - Road and tire noise comparisons - Wind noise around seals and windows - Hum, rattle, vibration and perceived loudness documentation - Frequency and spectrogram inspection - Repeatable drive-test baselines - Vehicle noise notes and shared comparisons Results depend on the phone, microphone, placement, route, speed, and environment. Do not use the app to make safety-critical repair decisions. If a noise is sudden, severe, or accompanied by handling, braking, temperature, or warning-light changes, stop driving and seek qualified help.