A c o u s t i c s

Greek language akoustikos Ready to HEAR

Unit-II
Fundamentals
Fundamentals:

Sound Generation

- is generated when pressure oscillations are

generated in an elastic medium at rates that
are detectable by a hearing medium.

- sound is generated whenever there is a

disturbance of an elastic medium.

- physical phenomenon that stimulates the

sense of hearing.
Sound Generation
- is a form of energy produced by vibrating
objects.
- is a waveform that travels in matter.
Sound wave propagates in all directions.
Sound Pressure Compression / Rarefaction

High

Normal

Low

Time

Time domain plot of a waveform:

a graph showing amplitude changes
SOUND
Sound is a wave motion in
air or other elastic
media

Sound is the sensation stimulated in the

organs of hearing by mechanical
radiant energy transmitted as
longitudinal pressure waves through
the air or other medium
“Photo of sound transmission”
Sound Wave – a longitudinal pressure wave in
air or an elastic medium, especially one
producing an audible sensation

Wavelength – the distance, measured in the

direction of propagation of a wave, from any
one point to the next point of corresponding
phase

Amplitude – the maximum deviation of a

wave from its average value
Frequency – the number of cycles per unit
time of a wave

Hertz – the SI unit of frequency, equal to one

cycle per second (Hz)
 Sound is measured in decibels (dB), a
logarithmic scale that compares the
amplitudes of two sound waves. A doubling of
amplitude represents a difference of about 6
dB.
• Intensity: power of the changes in air pressure
as they contact your ear

• Sound Pressure Level (SPL): intensity of a

sound relative to the threshold of hearing,
measured in dB
Acoustics is generally a linear phenomenon
Sound filled is a region filled with one several
sound waves

Sound waves with frequency range to human

hearing is between 20 Hz – 20,000 Hz

Hertz is the unit of frequency

1 Hz = 1 period/second
SOUND PROPAGATION:

REFLECTION

REFRACTION

DIFFRACTION

DIFFUSION
REFLECTION

- When a sound wave encounters a sharp

discontinuity in the density of its medium,
some of its energy is reflected.

- Reflected sound energy follows the law of

optics, reflected energy have equal
angles of reflection and incidence.
REFRACTION

- A change in direction which sound waves

undergoes when entering a different
medium
DIFFUSION

- The reflection of sound off a convex or uneven

surface.

- The process of spreading or dispersing

radiated energy so that it is less direct or
coherent.
DIFFRACTION

- The bending of the travel of sound caused by

an obstacle in its path.

- The bending of waves around small obstacles

and the spreading out of waves beyond
small openings.
 The requirements for the production of
sound waves are:
 1. A source which initiates a mechanical
disturbance.
 2. An elastic medium through which the
disturbance can be transmitted.
 Dense air is a more efficient transmitter of
sound than rarefied air.
 At high altitudes, where the density of the
air is lower, less energy may be transferred
from the source to the air.
 Sound does not travel through a vacuum. It
is only transmitted through a material
medium.
 Sound travels very effectively through solids
and liquids.
 Medium velocity m/sec
air (20º C) 343
air (0º C) 331
water (25º C) 1493
sea water 1533
diamond 12000
iron 5130
copper 3560
glass 5640
 depends on the amplitude of vibration
Soft Loud
Loudness

depends on frequency
Properties OR
Pitch Low High
Characteristics
of sound

depends on waveform
Quality or Clearer Mixed
Timbre
Compare the waveforms below:

What is the difference between them?

The amplitude of vibration.

So how do we vary the amplitude?

The loudness of sound is dependent on the amount
of energy which is transferred to the medium.
It in turn is dependent on the amplitude of
vibrations of the object.

The greater the energy

from the source Larger amplitude Louder
(More energy transfer) of vibration sound
Sound waves are caused when a vibrating
object introduce vibration into a medium.
Vibrating objects e.g. vocal cords,
guitar string, tines of tuning fork,
Medium e.g. air, water particles etc.

How often the particles of the medium

vibrate is referred to the frequency of a
wave.
Compare the waveforms below:

Higher
frequency!

What determines the pitch of sound?

The frequency of vibration.

So how do we vary the pitch? E.g. guitar string

Similar musical notes (i.e. same pitch) sounds
different on different instruments (e.g. piano and
guitar).
These sounds have different quality or timbre.

Tuning fork Piano Trumpet

Compare the waveforms below:

What determines the quality of sound?

The waveform.
Sound Loudness (dbs) Hearing
Damage
Average Home 40-50

Loud Music 90-100 After long

exposure
Rock Concert 115-120 Progressive

Jet Engine 120-170 Pain

Ultrasound
-sound waves with frequencies above
the normal human range of hearing.
Sounds in the range from 20-100kHz
Infrasound
- sounds with frequencies below the
normal human range of hearing.
Sounds in the 20-200 Hz range
Doppler Effect
is the apparent change in the
frequency of a sound caused by
the motion of either the listener
or the source of the sound.
 Sounds from Moving Sources.
› A moving source of sound or a moving
observer experiences an apparent shift of
frequency called the Doppler Effect.
› If the source is moving as fast or faster than
the speed of sound, the sound waves pile
up into a shock wave called a sonic
boom.
› A sonic boom sounds very much like the
pressure wave from an explosion
 Production Vibrating
sources

Transmission Requires a
medium

Detection Audibility
Sound
Reflection Echoes

Measuring its Direct and

speed indirect method

Pitch, Loudness Different

and Quality waveforms
Another very important but
little known acoustical
phenomena is the Inverse
Square Law. As a sound wave
propagates spherically, the
sound energy is distributed
over the ever-increasing
surface diameter of the wave
front surface.
The Inverse Square Law
teaches us that for every
doubling of the distance from
the sound source in a free
field situation, the sound
intensity will diminish by 6
decibels.
Under ideal conditions a free field could be represented
by a sound signal being generated from a mountain
peak. In real life situations however, rooms bounded by
walls, floors and ceilings will interrupt the inverse square
law at a distance in tan average 30′ square room at
approximately 10-12 feet from the sound source.
Nevertheless it is important to accept the notion that
sound will diminish in intensity with distance. For
example, in a typical classroom with a teachers voice
signal of 65 decibels at a three-foot distance from the
teacher; at 6 feet away the sound intensity will be 59
decibels and at twelve feet it will diminish down to 53
decibels. (This is important to remember as we discuss
the Signal to Noise Ratio S/NR later on)