A sound pressure metrology instrument determines sound pressure from index of refraction and includes: a light source that produces source light; the optical cavity that: receives an acoustic field from the sound source; receives the source light from the light source; produces acoustic-modified light from the source light; and communicates the acoustic-modified light to the photodetector; the photodetector that receives the acoustic-modified light from the optical cavity, produces an acoustic-modified signal from the acoustic-modified light, and communicates the acoustic-modified signal to the analyzer module; the analyzer module in electrical communication with the photodetector and that receives the acoustic-modified signal from the photodetector and determines the sound pressure of the acoustic field produced by the sound source from the modulations in the index of refraction of the acoustic medium inside the optical cavity encoded in the acoustic-modified light. %