How to Determine the Microphone Input Level

Hi Everyone. My problem is this: I'd like to get the input level of a signal coming into a microphone. That is to say, i'd like to be able to call a method that will return an integer or string value that will increase and decrease with the volume of the input signal.

So, if I were to start speaking into my microphone, the value might report a 50. If I start yelling, maybe it would be closer to 100.

The point is that I want to be able to react to different levels of noise in my user's physical environment. Does anyone have any ideas on how to get this value?

I am using C# with Visual Studio 2005 and the DirectX 10 SDK December 2006 and have had no luck, to date.

Thanks in advance!
-Matt

[725 byte] By [MattPolichany] at [2007-12-29]