An electronic signal level detection system and method are provided. The method receives an analog input signal having a variable voltage and compares the input signal voltage to a threshold. A detection signal is generated for input signal voltages exceeding the threshold in a periodic first time frame. In a second periodic time frame (following the first time frame), a count is updated in response to the generated detection signals. The count is used to create a metric representative of the difference between the input signal voltage and the threshold. The count is incremented in response to the generating a detection signal (“1”) in the first time frame, and decremented in response to not generating a detection signal (“0”) in the first time frame.