1.

acoustics

Definition of acoustics

1- singular in construction: a science that deals with the production, control,

transmission, reception, and effects of sound

2- acoustic: the qualities that determine the ability of an enclosure (such as an

auditorium) to reflect sound waves in such a way as to produce distinct

hearing

3- Acoustics is the branch of physics that deals with the study of all mechanical

waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound,

ultrasound and infrasound. The application of acoustics is present in almost

all aspects of modern society with the most obvious being the audio and noise

control industries.

Hearing is one of the most crucial means of survival in the animal world, and

speech is one of the most distinctive characteristics of human development

and culture. Accordingly, the science of acoustics spreads across many facets

of human society—music, medicine, architecture, industrial production,

warfare and more. Likewise, animal species such as songbirds and frogs use

sound and hearing as a key element of mating rituals or marking territories.

 Art, craft, science and technology have provoked one another to advance the

whole, as in many other fields of knowledge. Robert Bruce Lindsay's 'Wheel

of Acoustics' is a well-accepted overview of the various fields in acoustics.

Acoustic music is a genre of music using instruments that produce sound

solely through acoustic means, without electronic amplification.

4- Acoustics is the science of sound. It deals with the production of sound, the

propagation of sound from the source to the receiver, and the detection and

perception of sound. The word sound is often used to describe two different

things: an auditory sensation in the ear, and the disturbance in a medium that

can cause this sensation.

Software ODEON, description:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuB9lkrmvoU

Room acoustics are about the way in which sound behaves in a room. Sound

transmission, sound absorption, sound reflection and sound diffusion are all aspects

that are important here.

Room acoustics also include how human perceive different acoustic phenomena.

The field of building acoustics covers sound insulation too, where the route that the

sound takes from one room to other areas is included.

Sound pressure, or sound pressure level, is the result of the pressure variations in the

air achieved by the sound waves. The lowest sound pressure which can be heard by

humans is called the hearing threshold, the highest which can be endured is known

as the pain threshold.

Why do we use a decibel scale?

To avoid having to process numbers over such a wide range, a compressed,

logarithmic scale expressed in decibel (dB) is used. Here the lowest sound pressure

level has the value of 0 dB (the hearing threshold) while the pain threshold has the

value of approximately 120 dB.

If the values are added together on a logarithmic scale, the result differs from that

on a linear scale. If two equally strong sound sources are added together, the

combined sound pressure level does not double but increases by three decibels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S6FPeJW60s
 2. Define Sounds, acoustics, noise

Definition of Sound:

• vibrations that travel through the air or another medium and can be heard

when they reach a person's or animal's ear.

• music, speech, and sound effects when recorded and used to accompany a

film, video, or broadcast.

• mechanical radiant energy that is transmitted by longitudinal pressure waves

in a material medium (such as air) and is the objective cause of hearing

• Variation in air pressure (and air density)

• Amplitude (size of pressure variation)

• Frequency (repetition rate)

o cycles/sec or Hertz (Hz)

o Humans hear from ~20Hz to ~20,000Hz

• Wavelength (~17m to 17mm)

• Wave speed (344 m/s = 770mph)

Noise:
 • a sound, especially one that is loud or unpleasant or that causes disturbance.

• irregular fluctuations that accompany a transmitted electrical signal but are

not part of it and tend to obscure it.

• any undesired electrical disturbance in a circuit, degrading the useful

information in a signal (SINR)

• mainly all noise sounds are unwanted sounds and the aim is to minimize it

always.

• Acoustic noise is any sound in the acoustic domain, either deliberate (e.g.,

music or speech) or unintended. In contrast, noise in electronics may not be

audible to the human ear and may require instruments for detection.

• In audio engineering, noise can refer to the unwanted residual electronic noise

signal that gives rise to acoustic noise heard as a hiss

3. Sound/Wave Propagation (Sound Propagation, Units, Wavelength, acoustics

pressure, Period, Frequency, Acoustic Intensity, Acoustic Impedance…)

Definition Sound Propagation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32q5x-81H5Q
Sound propagates from a source, and it’s intensity decreases via the inverse square

law (the intensity is proportional to 1/(distance squared))

Sound behaves as a wave.

Its speed depends on the “medium” it travels through. Humidity, temperature and

pressure of air all effect the speed of sound.

Propagation of Sounds

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Sound/sprop.html

A sound unit is any acoustic unit of sound measurement.

• dB, decibel - noise of sound measurement is called decibels (dB). Ratio of the

sound pressure to reference pressure to something.

• sone - a unit of perceived loudness equal to the loudness of a 1000-hertz tone at

40 dB above threshold, starting with 1 sone.

• phon - a unit of subjective loudness.

• Hz, hertz = unit of sound frequency is called hertz (Hz)

Wavelength:

A wavelength is a measure of distance between two identical peaks or crests -- high

points -- or between two identical troughs -- low points -- in a wave.

Wavelengths represent a repeating pattern of traveling energy, such as light or sound.

Their distinctive formations play an important role in distinguishing one type of

energy from another. They are used by a variety of scientists and technology
professionals -- from aerospace engineers to enterprise network administrators -- to

identify different forms of energy.

The distance between repetitions in the waves indicates a type of wavelength on the

electromagnetic radiation spectrum, which includes radio waves in the audio range

and waves in the visible light range.

Sound pressure or acoustic pressure

Sound pressure or acoustic pressure is the local pressure deviation from the ambient

(average 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)

Time Period

A time period (denoted by 'T' ) is the time taken for one complete cycle of vibration

to pass a given point.[1] As the frequency of a wave increases, the time period of the

wave decreases. The unit for time period is 'seconds'. Frequency and time period are

in a reciprocal relationship that can be expressed mathematically as: T = 1/f or as: f

= 1/T.
Frequency is the speed of the vibration, and this determines the pitch of the

sound. It is only useful or meaningful for musical sounds, where there is a strongly

regular waveform.

Frequency is measured as the number of wave cycles that occur in one second. The

unit of frequency measurement is Hertz (Hz for short).

A frequency of 1 Hz means one wave cycle per second. A frequency of 10 Hz means

ten wave cycles per second, where the cycles are much shorter and closer together.

The note A which is above Middle C (more on this later) has a frequency of 440 Hz.

It is often used as a reference frequency for tuning musical instruments.

Acoustic Intensity:
Sound intensity, also known as acoustic intensity, is defined as the power carried

by sound waves per unit area in a direction perpendicular to that area. The SI unit of

intensity, which includes sound intensity, is the watt per square meter (W/m2). One

application is the noise measurement of sound intensity in the air at a listener's

location as a sound energy quantity.[1]

Sound intensity is not the same physical quantity as sound pressure. Human hearing

is directly sensitive to 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 intensity level is a logarithmic expression of sound intensity relative to a

reference intensity.
Not Necessary but extra info
 4. The Ear: Intensity and Decibels, Tone Quality, Frequency and Pitch, Intervals,

Scales, Tuning, and Temperament

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6ZQUmBg1eU
Mobile phone application:

Decibel X

Or how to measure intensity

Definition of timbre

the quality given to a sound by its overtones: such as

• the resonance by which the ear recognizes and identifies a voiced speech

sound

• the quality of tone distinctive of a particular singing voice or musical

instrument

Definition of tone quality

• TIMBRE sense 1

• the character of musical tones with reference to their richness or perfection

 • the character of the effect produced by a harmonic combination of musical

tones

Here to define the speech quality, speech level, and explain about it.

Pitch:

Pitch is the perceived frequency of sound including "definite pitch" and "indefinite

pitch" Absolute pitch or "perfect pitch" Pitch class, a set of all pitches that are a

whole number of octaves apart. Relative pitch, the ability to identify a given musical

interval between two notes.

Pitch is a perceptual property of sounds that allows their ordering on a frequency-

related scale, or more commonly, pitch is the quality that makes it possible to judge

sounds as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies.

Pitch can be determined only in sounds that have a frequency that is clear and stable

enough to distinguish from noise. Pitch is a major auditory attribute of musical tones,

along with duration, loudness, and timbre.

Pitch may be quantified as a frequency, but pitch is not a purely objective physical

property; it is a subjective psychoacoustical attribute of sound. Historically, the

study of pitch and pitch perception has been a central problem in psychoacoustics

and has been instrumental in forming and testing theories of sound representation,

processing, and perception in the auditory system.

Pitch of Sound

This depends on the frequency of vibration of the waves.

If the frequency of vibration is higher, we say that the sound is shrill and has a high

pitch. On the other hand, if the sound is said to have lower pitch then it has a lower

frequency of vibration.

A bird produces high pitched sound whereas roaring of a lion is a low-pitched sound.
Voice of a woman has high pitch than that of a man.

Difference between Pitch and Loudness

These two phenomena seem to be same sometimes, but they are not the same. They

differ based on their tone quality. The pitch of a sound is our ear’s response to the

frequency of sound. Whereas loudness depends on the energy of the wave. In

general, the pitch is the reason behind the difference in voice quality of different

individuals.

Temperament:

Temperament, in music, the accommodation or adjustment of the imperfect sounds

by transferring a part of their defects to the more perfect ones, in order to remedy, in

some degree, the false intervals of those instruments, the sounds of which are fixed;

as the organ, harpsichord, piano-forte, etc.

5. Sound waves I (Complex Vibrations and Resonance, diffusion, reflexion)

 Acoustic resonance is a phenomenon in which an acoustic system amplifies

sound waves whose frequency matches one of its own natural frequencies of

vibration (its resonance frequencies).

The term "acoustic resonance" is sometimes used to narrow mechanical resonance

to the frequency range of human hearing, but since acoustics is defined in general

terms concerning vibrational waves in matter, acoustic resonance can occur at

frequencies outside the range of human hearing.

Diffusion
Diffusion occurs when acoustic energy is scattered in many directions by a complex

surface. Diffusion is an excellent complement to sound absorption in performance

spaces and sound studios because it won't remove sound energy from the room but

will reduce standing waves and echo caused by direct reflections.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vGX2Vfzr1Q

Reflexion (Echo, Reverberation, etc.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H1abPcHFwk

6. Sound waves II (refraction, diffraction, absorption)

Refraction of sound waves (experiment with Balloons inside CO2, He), and sound

difference at night {air temperature})

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R4r5wtrY8c

Diffraction of Sound
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjEKHdKH75A

Sound Absorption

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59Rs135rzHk