sound processing - avarage amplitude?

[Niklas Paro]

Hello

I would need way to check the amplitude (over time) for a sound file in
python. I'm sure this can be done, for example the audioop.rms function
seems to be able return amplitude values. However, it would be really
great to get the results in dB, which does not seem to be the case.
Anyone who has more information about this, or a way to convert the
results? I've searched google but info about audioop seem to be quite
scarce. Also, does audioop function perfectly also for wave files? Also,
cross-platform solutions are of course preferred, but I'm running linux
(with oss).

I've also looked somewhat into tkSnack (http://www.speech.kth.se/snack/)
which has a dBPowerSpectrum function which might be doing at least
partially what i want it to, however, the returned values are approx.
-100 ... which I find odd. The "real", recorded sound was somewhere in
the 50-60dB range.


thanks in advance