A reference level calculation procedure is implemented for use in various reference measurement situations.
For a true omni-directional sound source a reference measurement in a single direction would be sufficient. But most practical sources are 12-faced speakers that start to show lobes in the polar pattern around 1kHz. The ISO 3382 standard therefore specifies that a proper reference level measurement shall be made in a free-field, and data from at least 29 directions shall be energy averaged. The following section explains how to do measure this reference level.