Properties of Sounds

Unit 11
A Windchime/windcatcher can
come in many different sizes
and shapes.

Why do wind chimes have

long & short pipes?

Do all windchimes have the

same sound?
How Do We
Hear Sound?
 We use our ears to hear. But how
does sound reach our ears?
Tapping on the skin’s drum gives it
This transfers energy away from
energy to move up and down very
the drum as a sound wave. This
quickly.
sound wave can travel in air to
our ears.

This quick back and forth

movement is called a vibration.

The vibrating skin causes the air

around the drum to vibrate as
well.
 We use our ears to hear. But how
does sound reach our ears?

Soundd waves are produced when These vibrations are then

we hit a drum.
When the sound wave reaches our
ears, vibrations are transmitted
along the parts of our ears.
converted to electrical signals
and sent to our brain. Our
brain interprets. the signals as
the sound that we hear
How do we describe and make
different sounds?
PITCH Does the cat have a
high or low pitch?

We can use pitch to describe sounds.

The pitch refers to how high or low a
sound is. The pitch of a sound
depends on how slowly or quickly an
object vibrates.
Factors that affect pitch
In music instrumental the low pitch and the high pitch of a sound affected by
some factors:

Xylophones made up of different

lengths of bars. A shorter bar
produces a higher pitch than a
longer bar.
Factors that affect pitch
Some musical instruments use strings to produce sounds. What are the factors
that affect the pitch of the sound produced by a string?

The harp has strings of

different lengths and The tautness of the
thicknesses to produce string can be adjusted.
sounds with different
pitches.

When a string is pulled tightly, it is

more taut and produces a higher
pitch. When a string is not pulled
tightly, it is less taut and produces a
lower pitch.
Factors that affect pitch
Other musical instruments use air columns of different lengths to produce
sounds.

 Shorter air columns produce sounds of a

higher pitch, while longer air columns
produce sounds of a lower pitch.

 The materials and sizes of object can also

affect the pitch of the sound they produce.

The pan flute has air columns of

different lengths to produce
sounds of different pitches.
How do we describe and make different
sounds?
LOUDNESS
We can use loudness to describe Thunder is a loud
sounds. Loudness refers to how loud sound that is produced
or soft a sound is to the person who by lightning. Can we
hears it. make a soft sound?

Factors that affect loudness

• Amount of energy used to make
the sound.
• Distance from the source of the
sound.