FUNDAMENTALS OF

ACOUSTIC
SOUND
THEORY
Designing space, structures and
mechanical system to meet hearing
needs.

With proper design WANTED sounds

can be heard properly

UNWANTED sound or noise can be

attenuated to the point where it does
not cause annoyance.
WHAT
IS
SOUND?

PHYSICAL WAVE

MECHANICAL
VIBRATION

SERIES OF PRESSURE
VARIATION
HOW SOUNDS TRAVEL?
AIRBORNE

Sound transmitted by air Sounds from pets

Talking Car starting

Sounds from radio & TV Travelling down a road

HOW SOUNDS TRAVEL?
STRUCTURE-BORNE

Sound that is carried via the Vibration we feel on the

structure of a building goundby passing train

Window vibration when

Noise at the footsteps
there is a low frequency
across an upper floor nearby

Sound from an impact on Any impact on a solid

or a vibration against surafce
TYPES
OF
SOUND

SPEECH

MUSIC

NOISE
SPEECH
Ability to express thoughts

Whisper is about 30 dB

Normal convo is 60 dB
MUSIC
Vocal or instrumental sound
combine to produce
harmony

75 to 105 dB

104 to 112 dB in nightclubs

PROPAGATION OF SOUND
• SOUND IS A SEQUENCE OF WAVES OF PRESSURE
WHICH PROPAGATES THROUGH COMPRESSIBLE
MEDIA SUCH AS AIR OR WATER.
• SOUND CAN PROPAGATE THROUGH SOLIDS AS WELL,
BUT THERE ARE ADDITIONAL MODES OF
PROPAGATION.
• DURING THEIR PROPAGATION, WAVES CAN BE
REFLECTED, REFRACTED, OR ATTENUATED BY THE
MEDIUM.
VELOCITY OF SOUND PROPAGATION
• THE SPEED OF SOUND IN AIR IS
ABOUT 343 M/SEC. (
1,235KM/H, 1,125 FT/S,
767MPH, 667KN)
• LOW FREQUENCY SOUNDS
AREA CHARACTERIZED BY
LONG WAVELENGTHS
• HIGH FREQUENCY SOUNDS BY
SHORT WAVELENGTHS
• SOUNDS WITH WAVELENGTHS
RANGING FROM ½ INCH TO
50 FEET OR 1.25M TO 15.25M
CAN BE HEARD BY HUMANS.
PHYSICAL QUALITY OF SOUND

FREQUENCIES WAVELENGHT

SPEED INTENSITY
 FREQUENCY VIBRATION the back and forth motion of complete cycle

• THE NUMBER OF CYCLES THAT TONE composed of multiple fundamental

THE AIR PARTICLES MOVE frequency called Harmonics.
BACK AND FORTH IN ONE
SECOND IN A SOUND WAVE PURE TONE sound composed only of 1 frequency

PITCH the degree of highness and lowness of a tone

• MEASURE IN CYCLES PER
SECOND (HERTZ)
Eight octave bands, are considered in a room
• 20 – 20,000 HZ – APPROX. Acoustics with the following center frequencies:
AUDIO FREQUENCY RANGE
OF HUMAN HEARING

• 600 – 40,000 HZ – CRITICAL

FREQUENCY FOR SPEECH
COMMUNICATION
SPEED
• THE SPEED OF SOUND IN AIR
HAS BEEN MEASURED AS 344
M/SEC (1,130 FT/SEC). THIS
CORRESPONDS TO 1,240
KM/HR (770 MI/HR) WHICH IS
EXTREMELY SMALL AS
COMPARED TO THE SPEED OF
LIGHT (300,000 KM/SEC).

• THE SPEED OF SOUND IN AIR DOES

NOT VARY WITH THE FREQUENCY
OF SOUND OR ITS LOUDNESS.
SOUNDS AT ALL AUDIBLE
FREQUENCIES, REGARDLESS OF
THEIR LOUDNESS, TRAVEL AT THE
SAME SPEED
 WAVELENGTH LONGITUDINAL WAVES CONSISTS OF PERIODIC
DISTURBANCE OR VIBRATION THAT TAKES PLACE IN
SAME DIRECTION.

TRANSVERSE WAVES, MOTION IN WHICH ALL POINTS

• THE WAVELENGTH OF A SOUND MAY BE ON A WAVE OSCILLATE ALONG PATHS AT RIGHT
DEFINED AS THE DISTANCE BETWEEN ANGLES TO THE DIRECTION OF THE WAVE’S
SIMILAR POINTS ON SUCCESSIVE WAVES ADVANCE
OR THE DISTANCE THE SOUND TRAVELS IN
ONE CYCLE OF VIBRATION.
• WAVELENGTH AND IS DENOTED BY THE
GREEK LETTER LAMBDA.
• LOW FREQUENCY SOUNDS:
CHARACTERIZED BY LONG WAVELENGTHS
• HIGH FREQUENCY SOUNDS:
CHARACTERIZED BY SHORT WAVELENGTHS
 INTENSITY
• AMOUNT OF ENERGY FLOWING PER UNIT THE INVERSE SQUARE LAW
TIME THROUGH A UNIT AREA THAT IS
PERPENDICULAR TO THE DIRECTION IN IT SPECIFIES THAT THE INTENSITY OF SOUND
WHICH THE SOUND WAVES ARE WEAKENS BY 6DB FOR EACH DOUBLING OF
DISTANCE FROM THE SOURCE.
TRAVELLING.
THE IMAGE ON THE
• IS DEFINED AS THE LEFT ILLUSTRATES HOW
POWER CARRIED BY SOUND SPREADS OUT
AND WEAKENS THE
SOUND WAVES PER FURTHER AWAY IT
UNIT AREA GETS FROM THE
PERPENDICULARY. SOURCE.
CHARACTERISTICS OF SOUNDS
LOUDNESS PITCH

The quality of sound

Measurement of intensity of
governed by the rate of
sound and express in dB
vibrations producing

It is a quantity called the Measure of how high and

sound of intensity level IL low a sound is

Sound from an impact on Pitch depends on the

or a vibration against frequency of a sound wave
AR. SWEETHEART SHE-CIREEL C. MACEDA