Eli5: the differences between decibels (dB) and weighted decibels (dBA)
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The response of the human ear to frequency isn’t flat – i.e. you would need a high or low frequency sound to have much more energy (be louder) to perceive it at the same loudness as a midrange sound.
When acoustic engineers measure noise, they are often looking to meet a numerical target in dB. If that target is in dBA they can filter out a lot of the junk noise that is there & has a high measurable noise level but we don’t really perceive.
To do this they use a set of values called the A weighting which, when summed with a measured noise level, mimic a human ear’s response to that level.
TL:DR dBA (A weighted decibels) are designed to more closely simulate how people respond to noise, which is not shown by just measuring a noise level in dB.
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