W27 - Sound applications

The applications of sound are beyond listening to music and speaking. Thanks to the
properties of sound, we can use them in many ways. This class is about three of
them: echolocation, ultrasounds, and sonars.

Echolocation is described as the use of high-frequency sound waves (that cannot

be listened to by humans) through bouncing and reception of echoes. Different
animals make use of echolocation to orient themselves through their environment,
avoid obstacles, find prey (hunting), and detect threats. It is different from the typical
hearing because the proper hearing doesn’t allow measuring the distance to the
objects but echolocation can. In other words, animals can “see” through
echolocation.

Not all animals use

echolocation the
same way. Sea
animals like dolphins
have a special organ
in their heads that
catches and amplifies
ultrasonic waves, but
bats use their ears to
echolocate. It
depends on the
frequency of the
waves. ultrasound is any sound of more than 20000 Hertz, with functions of
location, and measuring distance, and direction to objects. Other often-used
frequencies are infrasounds (with frequencies of less than 20Hz), that serve to
locate immobile objects. Infrasounds can travel farther than ultrasonic ones when
they travel through the ground. Elephants can communicate with others through this
sense.

Ultrasonic waves also have medical applications. This technique has two types:
diagnosis and treatment. Diagnosis ultrasound generates pictures of the organs,
using megahertz frequencies (more than 2 million hertz!). With this technique, we
can observe how are the organs or tissues, if they suffered any damage, and check
pregnancies. therapeutic ultrasound does not produce images but is used to move
or push tissues, dissolve clogs or stones, heat tissue, or administer medicines in
specific areas. in both ways, a device called a transducer generates ultrasonic
waves. The difference is that diagnostic ultrasound catches the echoes of those
sounds and therapeutic does not. The time that takes the wave to go back to the
transducer is what helps to generate the image.
One last application of ultrasound is a sonar (it means Sound Navigation and
Ranging). It is very useful to locate underwater objects. Like the other techniques, it
works with frequencies between 80 and 350 KHz, detecting the bounced waves on
the object to produce a signal. Sonars work both vertically and horizontally, in a
combined way to create a 3D map. The applications of sonars include exploration
and mapping of the ocean floor, locating objects like sunk ships, submarines, or
missiles, and even finding fish schools for fishing. Sonars can locate objects in time
and space. Distances are measured depending on the time taken for the waves to
go back to the transducer