Full name: Phạm Bùi Thảo Vy

Student ID: HS186176

Class: MC1813

Quiz L01: Sound Production – Principles

I. Defining the following

● The Sound Wave (Sóng âm): Sound begins when an object vibrates
and sets into motion molecules in the air closest to it. That is how we
have a reaction—a sound wave—which is much like the waves that
result when a stone is dropped into a pool.
● Frequency and Pitch (Tần số và Cao độ): The number of cycles that
a vibration completes in one second.
● Amplitude and Loudness:
- Amplitude (Biên độ) can be defined as the loudness or the
amount of maximum displacement of vibrating particles of the
medium from their mean position when the sound is produced.
- Loudness (Mức cường độ âm) is the amount of energy
transmitted by a sound wave per unit time through a unit area
placed perpendicular to the direction of sound propagation.
● Frequency and Loudness (Tần số và Độ to): The higher the
frequency waves oscillate, the higher the pitch of the sound we hear.
● Velocity (Tốc độ): defined as the distance through which a sound
wave’s point, such as a compression or a rarefaction, travels per unit
of time.
● Wavelength (Bước sóng): Determined by the distance a sound wave
travels to complete one cycle of compression and rarefaction
● Acoustical Phase (Pha âm thanh): Acoustical phase refers to the time
relationship between two or more sound waves at a given point in
their cycles. Because sound waves are repetitive, they can be divided
into regularly recurring intervals. These intervals are measured in
degrees.
● Timbre (Âm sắc): Timbre is the differences between sounds - their
tonal quality or tonal color, since each sound has a unique tonal mix
of fundamental and harmonic frequencies that distinguishes it from
 all other sound, even if the sounds have the same pitch, loudness,
and duration.
● Sound Envelope (Đường bao âm thanh): Sound envelope is sound's
shape, which refers to changes in loudness over time. A sound
envelope has four stages: attack, initial decay, sustain, and release
(ADSR)

II. The healthy ear

The anatomy of the ear
The ear is made up of three different parts:
The outer ear – this is the part you can see. Its shape helps to collect sound
waves. The lining of the ear canal is coated with wax, a type of lubrication
that stops the tissue from drying out, as well as helping to fight infection
and clearing dead skin from the ear.
The middle ear – is made up of the eardrum and three small bones. These
amplify and carry the sound waves to the inner ear.
The inner ear – sound waves are changed into electrical impulses and sent
to the brain. The organs of balance are located here too.

How ears hear

Sound waves are vibrations through the air. When we hear a sound (such
as somebody’s voice), sound travels along the ear canal and causes the
eardrum to vibrate. The vibration of the eardrum causes movement of the
three bones in the middle ear. These bones move against the cochlea (the
hearing organ) and pass the vibrations to thousands of special hair cells
inside it.
The hair cells then send the sound as an electrical signal along the nerve to
the brain, where we perceive the sound (our brain interprets the signal as
sound).

III. How sound behaves in an acoustic environment

Sound's behavior is influenced by 4 factors

1. Sound Isolation (Sự cách âm): Sound isolation in a room is measured in

two ways: by determining the loudest outside sound level against the
minimum acceptable NC level inside the room, and by determining the
loudest sound level inside the studio against a maximum acceptable noise
floor outside the room.

2. Room Dimensions (Kích thước phòng): The dimensions of a sound

room—height, width, and length—should not equal or be exact multiples
of one another. Room dimensions create additive resonances, reinforcing
certain frequencies and not others and thereby coloring the sound.
Resonance results when a vibrating body with the same natural
frequencies as another body causes that body to vibrate sympathetically,
thereby increasing the amplitude of both at those frequencies if the
variables are in an acoustical phase.

3. Room Shape (Hình dạng phòng): The shape of a studio is significant for
good noise reduction and sound dispersion.

4. Room Acoustics (Âm học trong phòng): When sound hits a surface, one
reaction—or a combination of five reactions—happens, depending on the
surface’s material, mass, and design. Sound is absorbed, reflected,
partially absorbed and reflected, diffracted, or diffused.

IV. Definition
1. Direct, Early, and Reverberant Sound ( Âm trực tiếp, âm phản xạ
sớm & âm dội lại )
● Direct sound reaches the listener first, before it interacts with any
other surface.
● The same sound reaching the listener a short time later, after it
reflects from various surfaces, is indirect sound. Indirect sound is
divided into early reflections (early sound) and reverberant sound
(reverb).
● Early reflections reach the listener within about 30 ms of when the
direct sound is produced and are heard as part of the direct sound.
● Reverberant sound (reverberation) is the result of the early
reflections’ becoming smaller and the time between them decreasing
until they combine, making the reflections indistinguishable.
2. Reverberation time ( Thời gian vang âm )
Reverberation time, or decay time, is the time it takes a sound to decrease
60 dB-SPL after its steady-state sound level has stopped. If sound is
delayed by 35 ms or more, the listener perceives echo, a distinct repeat of
the direct sound.

3. Noise criteria ( Tiêu chuẩn ồn )

Noise is any unwanted sound (except distortion) in the audio system, the
studio, or the environment. Audio equipment also generates system noise.
The noise criteria (NC) system rates the level of background noise.

4. The difference between Absorption and Reflection ( Khác biệt giữa

Tiêu âm & Phản âm )
Reflection of sound:
● When sound travels in a provided medium it hits the surface of
another medium and returns back in some various ways. This event
is called a reflection of sound waves.
● There are things like walls, windows which prevent sound from
moving across them and these things reflect the sound. This is
known as sound reflection.

Absorption of Sound:
● It is defined as the tendency of material to absorb light.
● When the sound strikes the surface some amount of sound energy is
reflected back.
● There are things like sofa cover, curtains which can absorb sound
and this is known as sound absorption.