1.2 Theory Paragraph 1.

2 - Frequency, amp litude, and waveform

time (by measuring t he pressure at a single location as a func tio n of tim e). For
example, we can imagi ne t hat if we were located at a specifi c point in space,
we mig ht observe a series of condensat ions and rarefact ions of the air around
us, as in figu re 1.8.

' ..
•--'-
'

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Fig.1.8 A graphical representat ion of compression and rarefact ion

At t ime t_1, whi ch occurs immed iately before t 0 the air pressure has its norma l
value, since the cyclic disturbance has not yet reached our po int of observation .
At instant t 0 the disturba nce arrives at our observat ion point, pressure starts to
rise, reaches'a maximum value at time t 1, and t hen decreases unti l it returns to
nor mal at t ime t 2 . It cont inues to decline, reaching its minimum value at t 3, after
w hich pressure returns to its normal value at t 4 ; the patt ern then repeats. What
has been described is a phenome no n called a cycle, and an event that always
repeats in this way is called periodic.B The ti me requ ired to complete a cycle is
said to be the period of th e wave, wh ich is indicated by th e symbol T and is
measured in seconds (s) o r in milliseconds (ms). The number of cycles that are
comp leted in a second is def ined as frequency, and is measured in hertz (Hz) or
cycles per second (cps).
If, for example, a sound wave has period T = 0 .0 1s (1/100 of a second), its fr e-
quency w ill be 1/T = 1/0.0 1 = 100 Hz (or 100 cycles per second)." (ibid)

Whi le examining figure 1.9, listen to the sounds of Interactive Example 1A. 9
We can see (and hear) th at increasing the number of cycles per second (Hz)
corresponds to making a sound higher in pit ch.

8 M ath ematically a waveform is said to be periodic if it is repeated regularly for an infinite tim e. In
t he practice of music. of course, we can satisfy ourselvesw ith periods much shorte r than infinity !
We wi ll say tha t a wave is " musically period ic" wh en it displays enough regu larity to induce a
perception of pitch th at correspon ds to the period of the wave . We' ll discuss th is issue in more
detail in Chapte r 2.
9 Please note that interact ive examples and othe r supporti ng mate rials to th e book can be fo und
on the we b at htt p://www.virtual -sound .com/cmsupport.
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