Resonances in the Bassoon

John Backus

Citation: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 41, 1608 (1967); doi: 10.1121/1.2143712
View online: https://doi.org/10.1121/1.2143712
View Table of Contents: https://asa.scitation.org/toc/jas/41/6
Published by the Acoustical Society of America

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 73RD MEETING ß ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA

singletarget in a backscattering was studied. resistancetermination. It was found that at frequenciesbe-

environment
The two-target resolutioncapabilityof these processorswas low the first resonancethe sensitivity increased by more
also studied. Data obtained from these measurements are than 3 dB. Increases of more than 10 dB were obtained at
compared to thoseobtainedfrom the experimental sonarwith the resonant frequencies.The predicted increase in the
no such processing.The resultsare interpretedto demon- resonantfrequencywas also observed.In one case, the
strate how increased resolution may be achieved for re- resonantfrequencychangedfrom 47.5 to 52 kHz when the
verberation limited echo-rangingapplications.[This work hydrophone was terminatedin a negativecapacitance.[This
was sponsored by the U.S. Officeof Naval Research.] work was sponsoredby the U.S. Naval Ship Systems
Command.]

El9. Effect of a Negative Capacitance Termination on

HydrophoneSensitivity.RAY,tONI)STv. r.TING(nonmember), Ell0. Extremely-Low-Noise Preamplifier for Audio Fre-
Defense ResearchLaboratory, The University of Texas, quencies. J. J. TRUCHAm)A•W)J. E. STocKxo•v,Defense
•tustin, Texas.--The frequencyresponse hy- Research Laboratory, The University of Texas, .dustin,
of piezoelectric
drophonesis determinedto someextent by the electrical Texas 78712.mA low-frequency low-noise preamplifier has
termination impedance.The effect of passive termination been designedaround a recently developedfield-effect tran-
impedances suchas shuntor seriesinductance on hydrophone sistor (FET). Data are presentedon the noise perform-
frequencyresponse is well known.This paperconsidersthe ance of this FET circuit as compared with a state-of-the-
effectof a negativecapacitance terminationon the sensitivity art bipolar transistor circuit. The theoretical sourcenoise
of piezoelectrichydrophones. The effect of the negative for the FET circuit is computed and compared with mea-
capacitance terminationon the sensitivitywas calculatedfor sured values. The noise characteristics of this circuit ap-
two analog circuits. Theoretical calculationsindicate that proach its theoretical source noise in the frequency range
the sensitivityshouldbe greaterthan opencircuitsensitivity 10-100 Hz. The self-noisespectrumlevel at 10 Hz is below
and that the resonantfrequencymay be increasedwhen the 140 dB//V2/ Hz as measuredwith a simulatedhydrophone
hydrophone is terminatedin a negativecapacitance. A nega- capacitance acrossthe input.The low noiseperformance from
tive capacitance circuit was designed,constructed, and used 10 Hz to 20 kHz and its other characteristics such as high
to verify the theoreticalresultsexperimentally.Three single- input impedance,wide dynamicrange, low distortion,low
elementhydrophones were usedin the experiment.In each currentdrain, small size,and low costsuggestmanypotential
case,the sensitivityof the hydrophoneterminatedin a nega- applicationsin underwateracousticsas well as possibleap-
tive capacitance to sensitivitywith a high plicationsin other acousticalfields.
was compared

Fair)aY, 21 APRIL 1967 PENNSYLVANIA ROOM, 9:00 A.M.

Session Mr. Musical Acoustics

MAX V. MATHEWS, Chairman

Contributed Papers (15 minutes)

Mfl. New Tenor Violin. CARLEEN

M. HUTCHINS,The Cat- vice always has sometime lag in its response,and this lag
gut ,4cousticalSociety,112Essex,4venue, Montclair,New may be of crucial importance.The lag usually can be repre-
Jersey07042.raThe early tenorviolin (TENORS.,to hold), sentedby a reactanceassociatedwith the negative resistance,
tunedapproximately 1 oct belowthe presentviolin,carried and a prediction can thus be made as to whether the fre-
a prominent partin earlypolyphonicmusicwhereits counter- quency of an oscillator will be slightly above or slightly
part in the viol familyhadbeenusedextensively. Thusthe below a zero-reactance frequency of the oscillator's reso-
gradualsuppression overthelast200yr of thetenorvoicein nator. To show how the negative-resistance conceptunifies
the violin family seemsa strangedeficiency,sincethe true the analysisof all acousticaloscillators,a negative-resistance
explanation will be given for some of the operating char-
tenor tone color is not adequatelyreplacedby either the
acteristics of reed and brass musical instruments, the edge
violas or the violoncellos.A possibleexplanationis offered
tone, and jet-edge resonators.[Experimental verification sup-
for the demiseof the tenor due to relative dimensionsin
tonequalitybased ported by U.S. Office of Naval Research,and U.S. Naval
earlytenorsand'cellos,andthe resultant
on placement Thesefactorswill be discussedAcademy.]
of resonances.
and demonstratedon the tenor and baritone instrumentsof
the new violin family,and on a conventional
'cello. [Work Mr3. Resonances in the Bassoon. JOHN BACKUS, Univer-
supportedby the JohnSimonGuggenheim MemorialFoun- sity of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90007.--
dation,the Martha Baird RockefellerFundfor Music,and Resonancefrequencies in the bassoonhave been plotted with
the Catgut AcousticalSociety.] the equipment,previously described [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 37,
1203 (1965)], which simultaneouslydraws on a strip chart
Mr2. AcousticalNegative Resistance.HERBERT
M. N•.u- the resonance curve of the instrument under external exci-

START,U.S. Naval,4cademy, Maryland21402.-- tation and a plot of the positions of the harmonics of the
,4nnapolis,
The concept of acoustical
negative is a powerful fundamental frequency (the frequency of the lowest reso-
resistance
toolfor analysis
of acoustical
oscillating An acousti- nance). Curves for the low register of the bassoon show
systems.
that the two resonances above the lowest are close to but
cal negativeresistance
is alwayseitherpressure-controlled
or elsecurrent-controlled.
An actualnegative-resistance
de- above the second and third harmonics. Higher resonances

1608 Volume
41 Number
6 1967
 73RD MEETING ß ACOUSTICAL
agree only fortuitously with harmonic frequencies. In the
middle register of the instrument, which is producedin play-
ing by opening small holes at appropriate places and thus
destroying the lowest resonance,the relationship between the
resonances and the harmonics seems to be completely ran-
dom. It is found that over much of its range the instrument
plays below the frequency of the lowest resonanceby more
than a semitone. This worsens the agreement between the
resonancefrequenciesand harmonicsof the playing frequency.
Mr4. Passive End Correction of Pipes and Resonators.
S. A. ELDWR,United States Naval Academy, Annapolis,
Maryland 21402.--The usual assumptionof an "inside" as
well as "outside" end correction is shown to be incorrect.
The size of the outside end correction at the mouth of an
organ pipe dependsupon whether it is referred to the area
of the mouth or to the internal pipe cross section. In the
former case, it is identical with the so-called "Helmholtz
resonator" end correction. For large pipe-to-mouth area
ratios, the end correctionreferred to the pipe must approach
X/4. The natural frequencies of an ideal closed pipe are
given by solutions of cot kL:tan k/xL, where k=2•r/X, L
is the length of the pipe, and /xL is the end correction,
=k4tan-•IX/•[e+O.6(•/•r)•], where I is image factor, S is
pipe cross section; v, mouth area; and e, effective mouth
depth. Complications due to annular effect, nonlinear react-
ance, jet-induced reactance, and orifice shape may explain
why the present considerationswere overlooked in the past.
Experimental data are presented. [Work supportedby the
Office of Naval Research.]
Mr5. Active End Correction of Pipes and Resonators.
S. A. ELDER, United States Naval Academy, Annapolis,
Maryland 21402.--When a pipe is soundedby blowing across
the mouth, the sounding frequency can be varied by adjust-
ment of the stream speedso as to be either above or below
the natural pipe frequency, an effect observed but not ex-
plainedby Rayleigh [Phil. Mag. Ser. 5, 13, 340-343 (1882)].
As a pipe is "blown up" to pitch, the pipe-mouth end cor-
rection may be considered to have an active component, due
to the presence of the jet, whose reactive part varies from
positive to negative as jet-feedback control shifts from edge
to pipe. The positive reactancederives from the edge-induced
"dipole" field while the negative component can be deter-
mined from the pipe-jet transfer function. Experimental data
are presented. [Work supported by the Office of Naval
Research.]
Fl•m^¾, 21 A?R•'L 1967
Session
W•5•^• W. L^Ng, Chairman
Contributed Papers (15 minutes)
Nfl. Instrumentation and Techniques for Recording Air-
craft-Flyover Noise. E•G^R L. ZWm•^CK, Aircraft Divi-
sion, Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, California
90801.--The introduction and widespreadoperation of turbo-
fan-engine-poweredaircraft of all sizes has resulted in in-
creased emphasis on research into compressor-fannoise.
Recording flyover noise of current aircraft for research
requires test equipment and techniques designed for this
purpose.Recent advancesin electronicsand electromechanics
SOCIETY OF AMERICA
Mr6. Measured End Corrections for Woodwind Tone-
holes. A. H. BENADE,Case Institute, Cleveland, Ohio, AND
J. S. MORD^¾ (nonmember), Cornell University, Ithaca,
New York.--Impedance parameters of a tone-hole system
are expressiblein terms of geometricalhole lengthsœ plus
added end corrections. These were estimated from frequency
measurements on resonators. Account was taken of boundary-
layer effects,which are small above300 Hz. For a hole or
tube of radius b, each correction is of the form /xL=b.E,
where E dependson the end geometry. For a tube whose
flange has an outer radius (b+w), the measuredend cor-
rection is Et=O.821--O.13[(w/b)+O.42]-ø'•t A disk of radius
r placednormal to the tube axis at a distanceh from its
end (e.g., a pad poised over its tone hole) gives Ea
=0.61(r/b)ø'•(b/h) ø'89for l<(r/b)<4, provided Eak0.65.
For a hole of radius b drilled through the wall of a pipe
whose outside radius is R, the outer-surface correction is
Eo=O.6411+O.321n(O.3R/b)]for 1.5<(R/b)•7. The inner-
surface correction for this hole is found using a doubly closed
resonator tube of inside radius a and of variable length, into
whose side is inserted an open side-branchof variable length
and radius. The inner correction at 300 Hz is E•=[1.3
--0.9(b/a)] for (b/a)<0.72.
Mr7. Program for AutomaticallyPlotting the Scoresof
ComputerSoundSequences. J•a-J• Ca^•m (nonmember)
^N• M^x V. M^•EWS, Bell TelephoneLaboratories,Inc.,
Murray Hill, New Jersey.--A graphicallanguagefor the
scoresof computergeneratedsoundshasbeendescribed.The
languagewas intendedfor a composer;it makespossible
drawingscoreswith a light pen on a cathode-raytube at-
tached to a small computer.It is difficult to follow these
scoreswhile listeningto the soundsbecauseof the repetitions
and algebra inherentin the language.A program to output
an easy-to-readscoreis described.Frequency(in a logarith-
mic scale) and intensity(going from pp to if) are plotted
as functions of time (measured in beats). The frequency
function is divided into dashes corresponding to note dura-
tions. Four voicesmay be plotted simultaneously.
The func-
tionsare drawnby a computeron a cathode-raytubeand are
recordedphotographically
onmicrofilm.For computer
sounds,
these scores are easier to follow than standard scores and
more generalthan standardscores;it is easy to learn to
read them.
GEORGIAN ROO•, 9:00 ^.•.
Nf. Noise
have resulted in the general availability of such new types
of test equipment.
Theseequipments,
when suitablymodified,
meet the accuracy, calibration, and dynamic-range-datare-
quirementsand the reliability,portability,and simplicity-of-
operationconsiderations
necessary for efficientdata gathering.
The flyover-noiserecordingsystemincludesthe microphone,
its mountingprovisions,electronicsand attenuator;the tape
recorder; the systemcalibrators;the aircraft-distance-deter-
miningcamera;the flyover-noise-aircraft position-correlation
The Journalof the AcousticalSocietyof America 1609