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Q: How much louder than a 20-decibel whisper is the 60-decibel sound of a vacuum cleaner? A: The vacuum cleaner is 10,000 times louder than the whisper! Amplitude and Distance The intensity of sound waves determines the loudness of sounds, but what determines intensity? Intensity results from two factors: the amplitude of the sound waves and how far they have traveled from the source of the sound. Amplitude is a measure of the size of sound waves. It depends on the amount of energy that started the waves. Greater amplitude waves have more energy and greater intensity, so they sound louder. As sound waves travel farther from their source, the more spread out their energy becomes. You can see how this works in the Figure below. As distance from the sound source increases, the area covered by the sound waves increases. The same amount of energy is spread over a greater area, so the intensity and loudness of the sound is less. This explains why even loud sounds fade away as you move farther from the source.