Editorial Policy

Principles

• Usefulness first: every page must answer a real user task — measuring, comparing, calibrating, or deciding whether protection is needed.
• Transparency over polish: limits are stated plainly, with links to primary sources, rather than hidden behind vague reassurance.
• No fabrication: we do not invent measurements, validation datasets, expert credentials, reviews, or institutional endorsements.
• Information gain, not word count: short pages that teach something new beat long pages that repeat it.

How Technical Information Is Sourced

Technical content is sourced from primary references and checked against the live implementation (src/lib/audio-engine.js) where applicable. Preference order:

1. Standards & official guidance — e.g. IEC 61672 for sound level meter semantics, NIOSH/CDC and WHO for exposure, OSHA for regulatory context. These are paraphrased and linked; long passages are never copied.
2. Browser/platform documentation — e.g. Web Audio API, getUserMedia constraints, AudioContext behaviour.
3. Well-established acoustic references for definitions (decibel scale, RMS, Leq, frequency/time weighting).

Secondary summaries, blog posts, and user forums are not treated as authoritative for numerical claims. When a number matters (e.g. an exposure limit, a weighting curve, a time constant), it is traced to the most primary source reasonably available and linked in a References section or inline citation.

Safety-Related Statements

Hearing-safety content is treated as high-stakes. Specifically:

• Exposure numbers (e.g. 85 dBA = 8 h, +3 dB exchange) are attributed to NIOSH and distinguished from OSHA (5 dB exchange) where both are mentioned.
• We distinguish general educational information from regulatory limits and from certified measurement requirements; they are not conflated.
• We do not present the browser meter as suitable for occupational compliance, legal evidence, or medical diagnosis. That disclaimer appears in-tool, in methodology, and in legal pages.
• External links to NIOSH/CDC, WHO, NIDCD/NIH, and OSHA use descriptive anchor text and appropriate rel attributes.

How Pages Are Reviewed

The site is maintained by a small independent team. Review is pragmatic and documented:

• Technical review: implementation-facing pages (Methodology, Accuracy, Calibration) are reviewed against the shipped code and browser docs before publication. Algorithm changes require re-review of those pages.
• Content review: guides and FAQs are reviewed for clarity, correctness, and redundancy (avoiding cannibalization) before publishing.
• Legal review: Privacy, Terms, Disclaimer, and Cookie Policy are reviewed for consistency with actual behaviour (what audio is accessed, what is stored, what analytics run).
• Pages include published and modified dates in structured data. Substantive corrections or algorithm changes are also noted in the Changelog.

Corrections

When an error is found — factual, mathematical, or editorial — we:

1. Fix the content promptly.
2. Update the page's modified date.
3. Note significant fixes in the Changelog, especially for measurement logic or safety numbers.
4. Do not silently rewrite history — the changelog preserves what changed and when.

Readers can report errors via Contact. Reports that include a source or proposed correction are especially helpful and are acknowledged when addressed.

Update Dates & Freshness

• datePublished reflects when the page first appeared.
• dateModified reflects the last substantive content change (not cosmetic rebuilds).
• Build tooling may regenerate lastmod in the sitemap; values track real modifications, not rebuild timestamps.
• Safety and methodology pages are re-checked whenever the audio engine or a primary source they cite changes.

AI Assistance Disclosure

Drafting may be assisted by AI tools for structure, phrasing, and code. All published content — especially numerical claims, safety guidance, and implementation descriptions — is human-reviewed against primary sources and the live codebase before it goes live. We do not publish unreviewed AI output on acoustic or safety topics.

AI is not used to fabricate sources, credentials, or measurements. Any future use of AI for measurement or reporting will be disclosed where relevant.

No Fake Authors or Credentials

The About page describes who maintains the site in honest, non-inflated terms. Contact details are on Contact. Legal and privacy commitments are on Privacy Policy, Terms, and Disclaimer.