Sound

Important Points to remember
 The parts of the human ear are- outer ear, middle ear and inner
ear.
 The outer ear consists of the pinna and the auditory canal.
 The middle ear consists of the Ear drum and the 3
bones( hammer, anvil and stirrup)
 The funnel shaped outer part of the ear collects the sound and it
is passed through the ear canal and to the stretched membranes
known as eardrums. The eardrums vibrate and produce
vibrations. These vibrations are amplified by the three
bones( hammer, anvil and stirrup). The middle ear then transmits
the sound to the inner ear. In the inner ear, the sound waves are
converted into electrical signals. This happens when the fluid
inside the cochlea vibrate and the hair cells present, convert the
sound waves into electrical signals. These signals are then passed
through the auditory nerve to the brain and the brain interprets it
as sound. This is how sound is heard by humans.
 The cochlea is the innermost part of the ear.
 Vertigo is a sensation of feeling off balance and is often caused by
an inner ear problem.
 The major task of the ear is to detect transmit and transduce
sound.
 Another function of the ear is to maintain our sense of balance.
 The innermost bone, the stapes or the stirrup bone is the smallest
bone in the human body.
 Earwax is produced by the ear to clean and protect itself. It is
secreted by the glands in the skin of the outer half of our ear
canals.
 Sound travels through a medium in the form of waves.
 When vibrations take place, the sound waves are transmitted
through a medium in the form of alternate compression and
rarefactions.
 Compressions are regions in the medium where the particles are
closer to each other. They are represented in the upper half of the
curves in the graph called crest. They are regions of high pressure
and density.
 Rarefactions are regions in the medium where the particles are
spread out. They are represented by the lower half of the curves
in the graph called trough. They are regions of low pressure and
density.
 When an object moves in a to and fro motion, it is said to have an
oscillatory motion. When the oscillatory motion is very fast, it is
said to have vibratory motion.
 Sound energy travels in the form of waves and are produces due
to vibration of the particles in a medium.
 The three characteristics of sound are- Frequency, time- period
and amplitude.
 The number of oscillation or vibrations per second is known as
frequency. It is also said to be the number of waves that travel
through a point in one second.
 Frequency is expressed in hertz(SI unit)/Hz, in the honor of the
german physicist Heinrich R Hertz.
Frequency= no. of oscillations/ Total time taken
 Frequency is often measured by counting the no. of crests or
troughs that pass by a particular point in one second.
 If the sound waves are squished together, then they have a high
frequency and high pitch.
 If the sound waves are spread out, then they a low frequency and
low pitch.
 The time taken by an object or the particle of the medium for
completing one oscillation or vibration is known as the time
period.
 Time period is the time taken for one wave to pass through a
point.( It is represented by ‘T’ ).
 SI unit of time period is second.
 Time period= 1/frequency
 Frequency determines the shrillness or pitch of a sound.
 If the frequency of vibrations is higher, the sound is shrill or high
pitched. If the frequency of vibrations is lower, the sound is deep
or of lower pitch.
 Pitch is also measure in hertz.
 If an object vibrates fast, it has a high pitched sound and vice
versa.
 The maximum displacement of an object or the particles of a
medium from its mean position due to vibrations is known as
amplitude.
 The loudness of sound depends on its amplitude.
 If an object is of higher amplitude, then the sound is loud and vice
versa.
 The loudness of sound is proportional to the square of the
amplitude of the vibrations producing the sound.
 Loudness is expressed in a unit called decibel (dB).
 Above 80 decibels, the noise becomes physically painful.
 Sounds that can be heard by the human ear is known as audible
sounds. Sounds of frequencies between 20Hz to 20,000Hz.
 Sounds that cannot be heard by the human ear is known as
inaudible sounds. Sound of frequencies lower than 20Hz and
more than 20,000Hz.
 Inaudible sounds can be divided into two categories, infrasound
and ultrasound.
 Infrasound- Sounds having frequencies below 20Hz and it is used
to treat myopia in kids. Animals like rhinos, hippos, elephants and
pigeons communicate through infrasonic sounds.
 Ultrasound- Sound having frequencies more than 20,000Hz and it
is used to identify abnormalities in the human body or calculate
distance under water through SONAR. Animals like bats dogs and
cats use ultrasounds to communicate.
 Police use high frequency whistles which dogs can hear but
humans cannot.
 Bats and dolphins send out ultrasound waves and use their
echoes or reflected waves to identify the location of objects they
can’t see. This is known as echolocation.
 Musical sounds have a regular wave pattern.
 Noise have irregular wave pattern.
 Noise pollution is the presence of undesirable and unpleasant
sounds in the environment.
 150 decibels is usually considered enough to burst our eardrums
but the threshold for death is usually at around 180-200 decibels.
 Excessive noise in the surroundings can lead to serious health
problems such as hypertension, insomnia, anxiety, lack of
memory, stress, irritation and even nervous breakdown.
 Excessive noise lead to increased blood pressure. It increases
cholesterol levels in our blood which can lead to cardiovascular
diseases.
 Noise pollution also lead to a decrease in the production of
digestive juices by our body.

Sound

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Sound

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Sound

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Important Points to remember

You might also like