Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

how will i be able to measure the sound of the crickets at a sertent time everyday for 2-3 weeks?

dear peacelove904,

Thank you for contacting science buddies' ask an expert. Regarding your question, I would suggest using a microphone attached to a computer and some sort of audio analyzing software (If you have a PC there is software programmed into all PCs called "sound recorder", which is found (depending on your version of windows it might be different, but the first 3 steps are in all windows operating systems) by going to start-all programs-entertainment-sound recorder. You can record the crickets' noise with the microphone and the software everyday and you can see the volume of the crickets by looking at what looks like a green line graph in the software. You can measure the height of the peak of the volume graph on the software and use this to represent the volume. The only problem with "sound recorder" is that it only records for 1 minute, unless you keep clicking the record button when each minute is over. You might want to try buying an audio recorder software or try downloading some audio recorder software on the internet (although I can't tell you if you will get a computer virus by downloading software over the internet). I know that measuring the graph of the volume of the noises is not that accurate; if you want to measure the decibels (measurement of sound) of the noises you will probably need to purchase some sort of audio analyzing software.

good luck,
scienceexpert123