Octave band

An octave band is a frequency band that spans one octave (Playⓘ). In this context an octave can be a factor of 2 or a factor of 100.3. 2/1 = 1200 cents ≈ 100.301.

Fractional octave bands such as +1⁄3 or +1⁄12 of an octave are widely used in engineering acoustics.

Analyzing a source on a frequency by frequency basis is possible. Alternatively, the whole frequency range can be divided into sets of frequencies called bands. Each band covers a specific range of frequencies. For this reason, a scale of octave bands and one-third octave bands has been developed. A band is said to be an octave in width when the upper band frequency is twice the lower band frequency. A one-third octave band is defined as a frequency band whose upper band-edge frequency (f2) is the lower band frequency (f1) times the cube root of two.

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