1.

1 INFORMATION REPRESENTATION AHMED THAKUR

1.1.3 SOUND

 Understanding of what is meant by transmission of data

Sound
Sound is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas (there is no sound in outer
space as space is a vacuum and there is no solid, liquid or gas to transmit sound through!). A speaker
works by moving its centre cone in and out, this causes the air particles to bunch together forming
waves. These waves spread out from the speaker travelling at 340 m / s. If your ear is in the way, then

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the waves of sound particles will collide with your ear drum, vibrating it and sending a message to
your brain. This is how you hear:

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When you hear different volumes and pitches of sound all that is happening is that each sound wave
varies in energy for the volume (larger energy waves, the louder the sound), or distance between
sound waves which adjusts the pitch, (smaller distances between waves leads to higher pitched
sound).
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1 - base volume and frequency

2 - double volume and frequency
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3 - same volume treble the frequency

Sound is often recorded for two channels, stereo, feeding a left and right speaker whose outputs
may differ massively. Where one channel is used, this is called mono. 5.1 surround sound used in
cinemas and home media set ups use 6 channels.
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A computer representation of a stereo

song, if you look carefully you'll see the
volume of the song varying as you go
through it

This section of the book will cover how we record, store and transmit sound using computers. Sound
waves in nature are continuous, this means they have an almost infinite amount of detail that you

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could store for even the shortest sound. This makes them very difficult to record perfectly, as
computers can only store discrete data, data that has a limited number of data points.

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The discrete approximations (in red) can be used to
Sound is a continuous set of data points recreate the original sound (grey). However, due to
formed by a wave. Computers sample limitations in the number of samples we take we are
this sound at discrete points to store a often unable to truly represent a sound wave, though
digital approximation we can get close enough for the human ear not to
notice the difference.

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Analog and digital
For a computer to store sound files we need to get the continuous analogue sound waves into
discrete binary values:
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An analogue sound wave is picked up by a microphone and sent to an Analogue to Digital

(ADC) converter in the form of analogue electrical signals. The ADC converts the electrical
signals into digital values which can be stored on a computer.

Once in a digital format you can edit sounds with programs such as audacity.

To play digital audio you convert the sound from digital values into analogue electrical signals
using the DAC, these signals are then passed to a speaker that vibrating the speaker cone,
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moving the air to create sound waves and analogue noise.

Analogue to Digital Converter (ADC) - Converts analogue sound into digital signals that can be
stored on a computer

Digital to Analogue Converter (DAC) - Converts digital signals stored on a computer into analogue
sound that can be played through devices such as speakers

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fig 1. The original analogue sound wave is a
continuous set of points
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fig 2. ADC converts sound into digital data

fig 3. DAC converts digital data into analogue
sound, the analogue wave produced may differ
significantly from the original sound wave
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Sampled sound
Sound waves are continuous and computers can only store discrete data. How exactly does an
Analogue to Digital Convert convert a continuous sound wave into discrete digital data? To do this
we need to look at how computers sample sound.

Sampling is amplitude of sound wave taken at different points in time and measurement of value of
analogue signal at regular time intervals/a point in time.

Sampling Rate - The number of samples taken per second

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Hertz (Hz) - the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic
phenomenon

To create digital music that sounds close to the real thing you need to look at the analogue sound
waves and try to represent them digitally. This requires you to try to replicate the analogue (and
continuous) waves as discrete values. The first step in doing this is deciding how often you should
sample the sound wave, if you do it too little, the sample stored on a computer will sound very distant
from the one being recorded. Sample too often and sound stored will resemble that being recorded
but having to store each of the samples means you'll get very large file sizes. To decide how often

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you are going to sample the analogue signal is called the sampling rate. Take a look at the following
example:

Original Sound High sample rate

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original continuous sound wave digital looks like original

1/2 high sample rate 1/3 high sample rate 1/4 high sample rate

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digital loses sharpness loss of peaks poor resemblance to original!

To create digital sound as close to the real thing as possible you need to take as many samples per
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second as you can. When recording MP3s you'll normally use a sampling rate between 32,000, 44,100
and 48,000Hz (samples per second). That means that for a sampling rate of 44,100, sound waves will
have been sampled 44,100 times per second! Recording the human voice requires a lower sampling
rate, around 8,000Hz. If you speak to someone on the phone it may sound perfectly acceptable,
but try playing music down a telephone wire and see how bad it sounds.
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Comparison of the same sound sample recorded at 8kHz, 22kHz and 44kHz sample rate. Note
the spacing of the data points for each sample. The higher the sample rate the more data
points we'll need to store

Sampling resolution

Sampling resolution - the number of bits assigned to each sample

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As you saw earlier, different sounds can have different volumes. The sampling resolution allows you
to set the range of volumes storable for each sample. If you have a low sampling resolution then the
range of volumes will be very limited, if you have a high sampling resolution then the file size may
become unfeasible. The sampling resolution for a CD is 16 bits used per sample.
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Amplitude
Amplitude is the fluctuation or displacement of a wave from its mean value. With sound waves, it is
the extent to which air particles are displaced, and this amplitude of sound or sound amplitude is
experienced as the loudness of sound.

Dynamic range
Abbreviated DR or DNR, is the ratio between the largest and smallest values of a changeable
quantity, such as in signals like sound and light.

The 16-bit compact disc has a theoretical dynamic range of about 96 dB for a triangle wave or 98
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dB for sinusoidal signals.The perceived dynamic range of 16-bit audio can be as high as 120 dB with
noise-shaped dither, taking advantage of the frequency response of the human ear. Digital audio
with undithered 20-bit digitization is also theoretically capable of 120 dB dynamic range. Similarly,
24-bit digital audio calculates to 144 dB dynamic range. All digital audio recording and playback
chains include input and output converters and associated analog circuitry, significantly limiting
practical dynamic range. Observed 16-bit digital audio dynamic range is about 90 dB.

Dynamic range in analog audio is the difference between low-level thermal noise in the electronic
circuitry and high-level signal saturation resulting in increased distortion and, if pushed higher,

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clipping. Multiple noise processes determine the noise floor of a system. Noise can be picked up from
microphone self-noise, preamp noise, wiring and interconnection noise, media noise, etc.

File sizes

Bit rate - the number of bits required to store 1 second of sound

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To work out the size of a sound sample requires the following equation:

File Size = Sample Rate * Sample Resolution * Length of sound

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This is the same as saying:

File Size = Bit Rate * Length of sound

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Let's look at an example:

To work out the size of a sound sample requires the following equation:
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File Size = Sample Rate * Sample Resolution * Length of sound

This is the same as saying:

File Size = Bit Rate * Length of sound

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Let's look at an example:

Example: Sound File Sizes

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If you wanted to record a 30 second voice message on your mobile phone you would use the
following:

Sample Rate = 8,000Hz

Sample Resolution = 16 bit
Length of Sound = 30 seconds

Therefore the total file size would be:

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8,000 * 16 * 30 = 3 840 000 Bits = 480 000 Bytes

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Extension: Sound Editing

If you are interested in sound editing you can start editing your own music using a program
called Audacity. Using Audacity you can create your own sound samples with different
sample rates and sample resolutions, listening to the difference between them and noting the
different file sizes.

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Additional Info

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Sound
In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as a typically audible mechanical wave of pressure
and displacement, through a medium such as air or water. In physiology and psychology, sound is
the reception of such waves and their perception by the brain.

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Sound is defined by ANSI/ASA S1.1-2013 as "(a) Oscillation in pressure, stress, particle displacement,
particle velocity, etc., propagated in a medium with internal forces (e.g., elastic or viscous), or the
superposition of such propagated oscillation. (b) Auditory sensation evoked by the oscillation
described in (a).
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Sound wave properties and characteristics
Sinusoidal waves of various frequencies; the bottom waves have higher frequencies than those
above. The horizontal axis represents time.

Sound waves are often simplified to a description in terms of sinusoidal plane waves, which are
characterized by these generic properties:

 Frequency, or its inverse, the period

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 Wavelength
 Wave number
 Amplitude
 Sound pressure
 Sound intensity
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 Speed of sound
 Direction

 Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time. It is also referred to
as temporal frequency, which emphasizes the contrast to spatial frequency and angular
frequency. The period is the duration of time of one cycle in a repeating event, so the period is
the reciprocal of the frequency. For example, if a newborn baby's heart beats at a frequency of
120 times a minute, its period – the interval between beats – is half a second (60 seconds (i.e., a
minute) divided by 120 beats). Frequency is an important parameter used in science and
engineering to specify the rate of oscillatory and vibratory phenomena, such as mechanical
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vibrations, audio (sound) signals, radio waves, and light.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency

The SI unit for period is the second. For counts per unit of time, the SI unit for frequency is hertz
(Hz), named after the German physicist Heinrich Hertz; 1 Hz means that an event repeats once
per second. A previous name for this unit was cycles per second (cps).

A traditional unit of measure used with rotating mechanical devices is revolutions per minute,
abbreviated r/min or rpm. 60 r/min equals one hertz

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 Wavelength
In physics, the wavelength of a sinusoidal wave is the spatial period of the wave—the distance
over which the wave's shape repeats. and the inverse of the spatial frequency. It is usually
determined by considering the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same
phase, such as crests, troughs, or zero crossings and is a characteristic of both traveling waves
and standing waves, as well as other spatial wave patterns. Wavelength is commonly
designated by the Greek letter lambda (λ). The concept can also be applied to periodic waves
of non-sinusoidal shape. The term wavelength is also sometimes applied to modulated waves,

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and to the sinusoidal envelopes of modulated waves or waves formed by interference of several
sinusoid

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In the physical sciences, the wavenumber (also wave number) is the spatial frequency of a
wave, either in cycles per unit distance or radians per unit distance. It can be envisaged as the
number of waves that exist over a specified distance (analogous to frequency being the number
of cycles or radians per unit time).

 Amplitude
The amplitude of a periodic variable is a measure of its change over a single period (such as
time or spatial period). There are various definitions of amplitude (see below), which are all
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functions of the magnitude of the difference between the variable's extreme values. In older
texts the phase is sometimes called the amplitude

 Sound pressure
Sound pressure or acoustic pressure is the local pressure deviation from the ambient (average,
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or equilibrium) atmospheric pressure, caused by a sound wave. In air, sound pressure can be
measured using a microphone, and in water with a hydrophone. The SI unit of sound pressure is
the pascal (Pa)

 Sound Intensity
Sound intensity or acoustic intensity is defined as the sound power per unit area. The SI unit of
sound intensity is the watt per square metre (W/m2). The usual context is the noise measurement
of sound intensity in the air at a listener's location as a sound energy quantity.

Sound intensity is not the same physical quantity as sound pressure. Hearing is directly sensitive to
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sound pressure which is related to sound intensity. In consumer audio electronics, the level
differences are called "intensity" differences, but sound intensity is a specifically defined quantity
and cannot be sensed by a simple microphone. Sound energy passing per second through a
unit area held perpendicular to the direction of propagation of sound waves is called intensity
of sound.

Sound intensity, denoted I, is defined by

where

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 p is the sound pressure;

 v is the particle velocity.

where
 P is the sound power;
 A is the area.

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Both I and v are vectors, which means that both have a direction as well as a magnitude. The
direction of sound intensity is the average direction in which energy is flowing.
The average sound intensity during time T is given by

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 Speed of Sound
The speed of sound is the distance travelled per unit time by a sound wave propagating through
an elastic medium. The SI unit of the speed of sound is the metre per second (m/s). In dry air at

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20 °C, the speed of sound is 343.2 metres per second (1,126 ft/s). This is 1,236 kilometres per hour
(768 mph; 667 kn), or a kilometre in 2.914 s or a mile in 4.689 s.
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 Direction
Direction is the information contained in the relative position of one point with respect to another
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point without the distance information. Directions may be either relative to some indicated
reference (the violins in a full orchestra are typically seated to the left of the conductor), or
absolute according to some previously agreed upon frame of reference (New York City lies due
west of Madrid). Direction is often indicated manually by an extended index finger or written as
an arrow. On a vertically oriented sign representing a horizontal plane, such as a road sign,
"forward" is usually indicated by an upward arrow. Mathematically, direction may be uniquely
specified by a unit vector, or equivalently by the angles made by the most direct path with
respect to a specified set of axes.

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Decibel
The decibel (dB) is a logarithmic unit that expresses the ratio of two values of a physical quantity,
often power or intensity. One of these quantities is often a reference value and in this case the
decibel expresses the absolute level of the physical quantity. The number of decibels is ten times the
logarithm to base 10 of the ratio of two power quantities, or of the ratio of the squares of two field
amplitude quantities. One decibel is one tenth of one bel, named in honor of Alexander Graham
Bell; however, the bel is seldom used.

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