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Characteristics of Sound
Sound is a form of energy.
Sound is produced by the vibration of the body.
Sound requires a material medium for its propagation and can be
transmitted through solids, liquids and gases.
When sound is conveyed from one medium to another medium there is no
bodily motion of the medium.
Sound requires a definite interval of time to travel from one point to another
point in a medium and its velocity is smaller than the velocity of the light.
Velocity of sound is maximum is solids, which have higher bulk modules and
least in gases.
Sound may be reflected, refracted, or scattered. It exhibits diffraction
and interference.In transverse mode it exhibits polarization also.

Classification of Sound
 Sound waves of frequencies below 20 Hz are termed as Infrasonic (inaudible)
 Sound waves of frequencies above 20000 Hz are termed as Ultrasonic (inaudible)
 Sound waves of frequencies 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz are termed as audible sound
Further the audible sound is classified as Musical Sounds and Noise. the sounds
which products effect on the ear are called musical sound and that which produces
jarring and unpleasing effect are called noises.

sound
1)Infrasonics
2)Audible
Music
Noise
3)Ultrasonics

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1 Characteristics of Musical Sound

There are three characteristics of Musical Sound
 Pitch or Frequency
 Quality or Timbre
 Intensity or Loudness

a. Pitch or frequency:
Pitch is the characteristic of sound which is the sensation conveyed to our brain
by thesound waves falling in our ears. It depends directly on the frequency of the
incident soundwaves. Though the pitch is directly related to frequency, they are
not the same; in generalthe frequency is a physical quantity whereas the pitch is
a physiological quantity.
Example: sound of mosquito produces high pitch than the sound of lion which is
a lowpitch.

b. Quality or Timbre
The quality of the sound is the one which helps us to distinguish between the
musical
notes emitted by the different instruments or voices, even though they have the
same
pitch and loudness.

c. Intensity or loudness
The intensity of sound at a point is defined as the average rate of flow of acoustic
energy(Q) per unit area situated normally to the direction

of und wave.

The intensity depends upon the following factors

Where n=Frequency of the sound wave

a=amplitude of the wave
p=density of the medium
v=velocity of sound in that medium
x=distance from the source of sound to the receiving end

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or Intensity per unit area per unit time

2 Loudness - Weber Fechner Law

Loudness of the sound is defined as the degree of sensation produced on the ear.
The
loudness varies from one observer to another. It is a physiological quantity and
therefore itis difficult to measure loudness. But, it can be measured a logarithmic
value of intensity

Equation 1 is known as WEBER - FECHNER law.

Differentiating equation 1, we have

is called Sensitiveness of ear. Therefore the sensitiveness decreases with the

increase in Intensity. For example more sound in an auditorium will not be hard
properly.

INTENSITY
1 It refers to the external measurement
2) It is common to hear
3) t can be measureddirectly
LOUDNESS
1) It is just a sensation produced on the ear.
2) It depends upon individual listener
3) It is measured only with respect to intensity.

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3 UNIT OF LOUDNESS

If L, is the Loudness of sound of intensity I and L is the loudness corresponding

to thestandard reference intensity 1 = 10 watts/m, then according to Weber-
Fechner law,
we have

Now, the intensity level (I) which is equal to the difference in Loudness,

If k is taken as 1, the intensity level or difference in loudness is expressed in bels,

a
unit named after Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of Telephone

4 Decibel

The unit of Bel is however quite large and hence I is expressed by another
standard unitcalled decibel 1 bel = 10 decibels.

Case 1.
If I=0dB, then equation 1 becomes

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Case 2:

If I = 1dB, then equation 1 becomes

Subtracting equation 2 from 3, we get

1.26-1=0.26

For a change in intensity level of 1 dB, the intensity changes to about 26%.

When I1 = 100 Io ;IL=20dB

When I1 = 1000 Io ; IL=30dB

To build up a scale of business, zero on the scale is taken as the threshold of

hearing, which corresponds to Io = 1012 W/m2. The maximum intensity with which
an earcan tolerate is I = 1W/m2

The maximum intensity level an ear can hear is

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S.No SOURCE INTENSITY LEVEL IN dB

1. Threshold of hearing 0
2. Rustle of leaves 10
3. Whisper 15-20
4. Average house 40
5. Ordinary conversation 60-65
6. Motors or heavy traffic 70-80
trucks
7. Roaring of lion of feet20 90
8. Thunder 100-110
9. Painful sound 120 and above

5 PHON
we have expressed the loudness in dB, on the assumption that the threshold of
audibilityis constant for all frequencies. But it is found that threshold of audibility
varies withfrequency. Sounds of same intensity but of different frequency differ
in loudness. Hence adifferent unit called PHON is used to measure loudness level
or equivalent loudness.

Definition: The meausre of loudness in Phons of any sound is equal to loudness

in
decibels of an equally loud pure tone of frequency 1000Hz.
Explanation: Let us consider two sources 'S' the standard source and S, the
source ofsound for which loudness is to be measured. The two sounds are heard

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alternatively andthe intensity of S is adjusted to be equal to the loudness of the S

as shown in the figure.

Now the intensity level of S is measured, If it say 'n' decibels above the standard
intensity,then the equivalent loudness is 'n' Phons
The expression for loudness in Phon (L) is given by

Where I is the intensity of sound in dB

6 SONE
Sone is another unit to measure the loudness in terms of Phon or dB. It is used to
measurevery high loudness, especially between the ranges of 40 Phons to 100
Phons.

i.SONE in terms of PHON

Definition: The measure of loudness in some of any sound in equal to the

loudness
of that particular sound having a loudness level of 40 PHons.

Explanation: Suppose a source of sound is having the loudness or 40 Phons then

it
can be assumed to have a loudness of 1 Sone.
Expression for Loudness in Sone is empirically given by

Example:

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Suppose if the loudness in Phon is 40 Phons, then the loudness in Sone in given
by

ii.Sone in terms of Decibel

Definition: In terms of decibels the Sone is defined as the loudness of an equally
loud pure tone of frequency 1000Hz with 40dB if intensity level.
Explanation: It is similar to that of the measurement of loudness in Phon in terms
of dB, but the increase in intensity level should be 40dB above the standard
intensity, then the equivalent loudness is 1 Sone.
We know that

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