How loud is 50 decibels?

Question

I'm about to buy a piece of machinery that has an acoustic noise level of 50 decibels, how can i tell how loud this really is.

Answer 1

Its 50 decibels. Ha ha ha.

Answer 2

50 to 55 decibels is about the loudness of normal voices in conversation at about 3 feet away from each other.

Answer 3

For a piece of machinery 50dB is exceptionally low noise output. Background noise in the average suburbia is around 40dB and a lawnmower easily exceeds 90dB.