ACOUSTICS

JESSIE JAYE R. BALBIN, ECE,MEP-ECE

 Acoustics is the interdisciplinary
science that deals with the study of
sound, ultrasound and infrasound (all
mechanical waves in gases, liquids,
and solids).
 A scientist who works in the field of
acoustics is an acoustician.
 The application of acoustics in
technology is called acoustical
engineering.
 The word "acoustic" is derived from
the ancient Greek word ακουστός,
meaning able to be heard.
 The Latin synonym is "sonic".
 After acousticians had extended their
studies to frequencies above and
below the audible range, it became
conventional to identify these
frequency ranges as "ultrasonic" and
"infrasonic" respectively, while letting
the word "acoustic" refer to the entire
frequency range without limit.
History of acoustics

Early research in acoustics

 The science of acoustics had its beginnings in the Greek
and Roman cultures between the 6th century BCE and
1st century BCE.
 It began with music, which had been
practised as an art for thousands of
years, but was not evidently studied in
a scientific manner until Pythagoras
took an interest in the nature of
musical intervals.
 He wanted to know why some intervals
seemed more beautiful than others,
and he found answers in terms of
numerical ratios.
The fundamental and the first 6 overtones of a
vibrating string. Pythagoras was the first to study
this phenomenon.
 Aristotle (384-322 BC) understood that sound consisted
of contractions and expansions of the air "falling upon
and striking the air which is next to it...", a very good
expression of the nature of wave motion.
 In about 20 BC, the Roman architect and engineer
Vitruvius wrote a treatise on the acoustical properties
of theatres including discussion of interference, echoes,
and reverberation - the beginnings of architectural
acoustics.
 The physical understanding of acoustical processes
advanced rapidly during and after the Scientific
Revolution.
 Galileo (1564-1642) and Mersenne
(1588-1648) independently discovered
the complete laws of vibrating strings
(completing what Pythagoras had
started 2000 years earlier).
 Galileo wrote "Waves are produced by
the vibrations of a sonorous body,
which spread through the air, bringing
to the tympanum of the ear a stimulus
which the mind interprets as sound", a
remarkable statement that points to
the beginnings of physiological and
psychological acoustics.
 Experimental measurements of the speed of sound in air
were carried out successfully between 1630 and 1680 by
a number of investigators, prominently Mersenne.
 Newton (1642-1727) derived the relationship for wave
velocity in solids, a cornerstone of physical acoustics
(Principia, 1687).
The Age of Enlightenment and onward
 In the nineteenth century the giants of
acoustics were Helmholtz in Germany,
who consolidated the field of
physiological acoustics, and Lord Rayleigh
in England, who combined the previous
knowledge with his own copious
contributions to the field in his
monumental work "The Theory of Sound".
 Wheatstone, Ohm, and Henry developed
the analog between electricity and
acoustics.
 The twentieth century saw a
burgeoning of technological
applications of the large body of
scientific knowledge that was by then
in place. The first such application was
Sabine’s groundbreaking work in
architectural acoustics, and many
others followed.
 Underwater acoustics was used for
detecting submarines in the first World
War.
Fundamental concepts of
acoustics
 The study of acoustics revolves around the generation,
propagation and reception of mechanical waves and
vibrations.
 The central stage in the acoustical process is wave
propagation.
 In fluids, sound propagates primarily as a pressure
wave.
 In solids, mechanical waves can take many forms
including longitudinal waves, transverse waves and
surface waves.
Wave propagation: pressure
levels
 In fluids such as air and water, sound waves
propagate as disturbances in the ambient
pressure level.
 While this disturbance is usually small, it is
still noticeable to the human ear.
 The smallest sound that a person can hear,
known as the threshold of hearing, is nine
orders of magnitude smaller than the ambient
pressure.
 The loudness of these disturbances is called
the sound pressure level, and is measured on
a logarithmic scale in decibels.
 Mathematically, sound pressure level is defined

where Pref is the threshold of hearing and P is the

change in pressure from the ambient pressure
 The following table gives a few examples of sounds and
their strengths in decibels and Pascals

Example of Common Sound Pressure

AmplitudeDecibel Level
Threshold of Hearing 20*10-6 Pa 0 Db
Normal talking at 1m .002 to .02 Pa 40
to 60 dB
Power lawnmower at 1m 2 Pa 100
dB
Threshold of Pain 200 Pa 140
dB
Divisions of acoustics
Physical acoustics
 Aeroacoustics
 General linear acoustics
 Nonlinear acoustics
 Structural acoustics and vibration
 Underwater sound

Biological acoustics
 Bioacoustics
 Musical acoustics
 Physiological acoustics
 Psychoacoustics
 Speech communication (production;
perception; processing and communication systems)
Acoustical engineering
 Acoustic measurements and
instrumentation
 Acoustic signal processing
 Architectural acoustics
 Environmental acoustics
 Transduction
 Ultrasonics
 Room Acoustics
Sound

 Sound is vibration transmitted through a solid, liquid, or

gas; particularly, sound means those vibrations
composed of frequencies capable of being detected by
ears
Perception of sound

 For humans, hearing is limited to frequencies between

about 20 Hz and 20,000 Hz (20 kHz), with the upper
limit generally decreasing with age.
 dogs can perceive vibrations higher than 20 kHz.
Physics of sound

 The mechanical vibrations that can be interpreted as

sound are able to travel through all forms of matter:
gases, liquids, solids, and plasmas
 The matter that supports the sound is called the
medium.
 Sound cannot travel through vacuum.
Longitudinal and transverse
waves
 Sound is transmitted through gases, plasma, and liquids
as longitudinal waves, also called compression waves.
 Through solids, however, it can be transmitted as both
longitudinal and transverse waves.
 Longitudinal sound waves are waves of alternating
pressure deviations from the equilibrium pressure,
causing local regions of compression and rarefaction,
while transverse waves in solids, are waves of
alternating shear stress.
Sound wave properties and
characteristics
 Sound waves are characterized by the
generic properties of waves, which are
frequency, wavelength, period,
amplitude, intensity, speed, and
direction (sometimes speed and
direction are combined as a velocity
vector, or wavelength and direction
are combined as a wave vector).
 Transverse waves, also known as shear
waves, have an additional property of
polarization.
 Whenever the pitch of the soundwave
is affected by some kind of change,
the distance between the sound wave
maxima also changes, resulting in a
change of frequency.
 When the loudness of a soundwave
changes, so does the amount of
compression in airwave that is
travelling through it, which in turn can
be defined as amplitude.
Speed of sound

 Sound is a vibration that travels

through an elastic medium as a wave.
 The speed of sound describes how
much distance such a wave travels in a
certain amount of time.
 In dry air at 20 °C (68 °F), the speed
of sound is 343 m/s (1235 km/h, or
770 mph, or 1129 ft/s, or
approximately 5 seconds per mile).
 Sound travels faster in liquids and non-
porous solids than it does in air.
General formula

 In a real material, the stiffness of the springs

is called the elastic modulus, and the mass
corresponds to the density
 In general, the speed of sound c is given by

where
C is a coefficient of stiffness
ρ is the density

 Thus the speed of sound increases with the

stiffness of the material, and decreases with
the density
Practical formula for dry air

 The approximate speed of sound in dry (0% humidity)

air, in metres per second (m·s-1), at temperatures near
0 °C, can be calculated from:

where is the temperature

in degrees Celsius (°C).
 This equation is derived from the first two terms of the
Taylor expansion of the following much more accurate
equation:
Speed in solids

 In a solid, there is a non-zero stiffness both for

volumetric and shear deformations.
 A sound wave generating volumetric deformations
is called longitudinal and a transversal wave
generates shear deformations
 The velocities of these two different sound waves
can be calculated in isotropic solids by: where
E is Young's modulus
G is Shear modulus
ρ (rho) is density
 Thus in steel the speed of sound is approximately 5,100
m·s-1.
 In beryllium, a substance with relatively high stiffness
and low density the speed of sound is 12,870 m·s-1
 In a solid rod (with thickness much smaller than the
wavelength) only longitudinal waves occur.
Speed in liquids

 In a fluid the only non-zero stiffness is to volumetric

deformation (a fluid does not sustain shear forces).

Hence the speed of sound in a fluid is given by

where
K is the bulk modulus of the fluid
Sound measurements

 Sound pressure is the local

pressure deviation from the
ambient (average, or equilibrium)
pressure caused by a sound wave.
 Sound pressure can be measured
using a microphone in air and a
hydrophone in water.
 The SI unit for sound pressure is the
pascal (symbol: Pa).
The sound pressure deviation p
is

where
F = force,
A = area.
The entire pressure ptotal is

where
p0 = local ambient pressure,
p = sound pressure deviation.
Sound pressure level

 Sound pressure level (SPL) or sound level Lp is a

logarithmic measure of the rms sound pressure of a
sound relative to a reference value. It is measured in
decibel (dB).


 where pref is the reference sound pressure and

prms is the rms sound pressure being measure
 Source of sound Sound Sound
pressure pressure level
pascal dB re 20 μPa

Theoretical limit for undistorted sound at 101,325 Pa 191 dB

1 atmosphere environmental pressure
Krakatoa explosion at 100 miles (160 km) 20,000 Pa 180 dB
in air
Simple open-ended thermoacoustic device 12,000 Pa 176 dB
M1 Garand being fired at 1 m 5,000 Pa 168 dB
Jet engine at 30 m 630 Pa 150 dB
Rifle being fired at 1 m 200 Pa 140 dB
Threshold of pain 100 Pa 130 dB
OTHER SOUND SOURCES
Hearing damage (due to short-term 20 Pa approx. 120 dB
exposure)
Jet at 100 m 6 – 200 Pa 110 – 140 dB
Jack hammer at 1 m 2 Pa approx. 100 dB
−1
Hearing damage (due to long-term 6×10 Pa approx. 85 dB
exposure)
−1
Major road at 10 m 2×10 – 80 – 90 dB
−1
6×10 Pa
−2
Passenger car at 10 m 2×10 – 60 – 80 dB
−1
2×10 Pa
−2
TV (set at home level) at 1 m 2×10 Pa approx. 60 dB
−3
Normal talking at 1 m 2×10 – 40 – 60 dB
−2
2×10 Pa
−4
Very calm room 2×10 – 20 – 30 dB
−4
6×10 Pa
−5
Leaves rustling, calm breathing 6×10 Pa 10 dB
−5
Auditory threshold at 2 kHz 2×10 Pa 0 dB
 Source of sound Sound pressure Sound pressure level
pascal dB re 1 μPa
-3
Auditory threshold of a diver at 1 kHz 2.2 · 10 Pa 67 dB
Particle velocity level
The particle velocity level or the sound velocity level tells the ratio of a
sound incidence in comparison to a reference level of 0 dB in a medium,
mostly air.
It shows the ratio of the particle velocity v1 and the particle velocity v0.

The particle velocity level is:

where v1 and v0 are the velocities.

The particle velocity level has the letter "Lv".
The unit of the particle velocity level is named "dB".
Notice: The dB is dimensionless.
If v0 is the standard reference particle velocity of:

we use "dB SVL". (SVL = sound velocity level).

Sound particle velocity v should not be confused with Sound velocity c.
Sound intensity
 The sound intensity, I, (acoustic intensity) is defined as the
sound power Pac per unit area A.

Sound intensity level, LI, is the magnitude of sound intensity,

expressed in logarithmic units (decibels).

(dB-SIL),

where Io is the reference intensity, 10-12 W/m2

Note 1: The term "intensity" is used exclusively for the
measurement of sound in watts per unit area.
To describe the strength of sound in terms other than strict
intensity, one can use "magnitude" "strength", "amplitude", or
"level" instead.
 Sound intensity is not the same physical
quantity as sound pressure.
 Hearing is directly sensitive to sound
pressure which is related to sound
intensity.
 In stereo the level differences have been
called "intensity" differences, but sound
intensity is a specifically defined quantity
and cannot be sensed by a simple
microphone, nor would it be valuable in
music recording if it could.
 Sound intensity level
Sound intensity level or acoustic intensity level is a logarithmic
measure of the sound intensity in comparison to the reference level of
0 dB (decibels).
The measure of a ratio of two sound intensities is

where J1 and J0 are the intensities.

The sound intensity level is given the letter "LJ" and is measured in
"dB". dB is dimensionless.
If J0 is the standard reference sound intensity, where

(W = watt), then instead of "dB" we use "dB SIL". (SIL = sound

intensity level).
Sound power
Sound power or acoustic power Pac is a measure of
sonic energy E per time t unit.
It is measured in watts, or sound intensity I times area
A:

The measure of a ratio of two sound powers is

where
P1, P0 are the sound powers.
 The sound power level PWL, LW, or
LPac of a source is expressed in
decibels (dB) and is equal to 10 times
the logarithm to the base 10 of the
ratio of the sound power of the source
to a reference sound power. It is thus a
logarithmic measure.
 The reference sound power in air is
normally taken to be 10−12 watt = 0
dB SWL.
 Sound power is neither room
dependent nor distance dependent.
Sound power belongs strictly to the
sound source.
Sound power and sound power level of some sound sources

Situation sound power sound power

and Pac level Lw
−12
sound source watts dB re 10 W

Rocket engine 1,000,000 W 180 dB

Turbojet engine 10,000 W 160 dB
Siren 1,000 W 150 dB
Machine gun 10 W 130 dB
Jackhammer 1W 120 dB
Helicopter 0.01 W 100 dB
Loud speech, 0.001 W 90 dB
vivid children
−5
Usual talking, 10 W 70 dB
Typewriter
−7
Refrigerator 10 W 50 dB
−12
(Auditory threshold) 10 W 0 dB
 Sound power level

Sound power level or acoustic power level is a logarithmic measure of the

sound power in comparison to a specified reference level.
The measure of a ratio of two sound powers is

where W1 and W0 are the powers.

The sound power level is given the symbol Lw or SWL and is measured in
"dBW", which stands for decibel with the suffix for watts. Decibels are
dimensionless.

SPL stands for sound pressure level, and is not the same thing. If an amount of
sound power at a particular frequency produces a particular sound pressure
level x, the same amount of power at half the frequency will produce twice the
pressure level.
If W0 is the standard reference sound power, where

(W = watt), then instead of "dB", dB SWL is used. (SWL = sound power level).
Loudspeaker
• A loudspeaker, speaker, or speaker system is an
electromechanical transducer that converts an electrical
signal to sound.
• The term loudspeaker can refer to individual
transducer devices (otherwise known as drivers), or to
complete systems consisting of an enclosure
incorporating one or more drivers and electrical filter
components.
•Loudspeakers, just as with other electro-acoustic
transducers, are the most variable elements in an audio
system and are responsible for the greatest degree of
audible differences between sound systems.
• To adequately reproduce a wide range of frequencies,
most loudspeaker systems require more than one
driver, particularly for high sound pressure level or high
accuracy applications.
• Individual drivers are used to cover different
frequency ranges. The drivers are named subwoofers
(very low frequencies), woofers (low frequencies), mid-
range speakers (middle frequencies), tweeters (high
frequencies) and sometimes supertweeters which are
drivers optimized for higher frequencies than a normal
tweeter.
•When multiple drivers are used in a system, a "filter
network", called a crossover, is used to separate the
incoming signal into different frequency bands appropriate
for each driver.
•A loudspeaker system with n separate frequency bands is
described as "n-way speakers":
• a 2-way system will have woofer and tweeter speakers;
• a 3-way system is either a combination of woofer, mid-
range and tweeter or subwoofer, woofer and tweeter.
An inexpensive low fidelity 3.5 inch speaker, typically found in small radios
An expensive 4-way, high fidelity loudspeaker system.
Cut-away view of a dynamic loudspeaker
Driver types

 An audio engineering rule of thumb is that individual

electrodynamic drivers provide quality performance
over at most about 3 octaves
 Full range drivers

• A full-range driver is designed to have the widest

frequency response possible, despite the rule of thumb
cited above.
•These drivers are small, typically 2 to 6 inches (5 to 16
cm) in diameter to permit reasonable high frequency
response, and carefully designed to give low distortion
output at low frequencies, though with reduced maximum
output level.
Subwoofer

A subwoofer is a woofer driver used only for the lowest

part of the audio spectrum: typically below 100-120 Hz.
Because the intended range of frequencies in these is
limited, subwoofer system design is usually simpler in
many respects than for conventional loudspeakers, often
consisting of a single subwoofer driver enclosed in a
suitable cabinet or enclosure.
a dome tweeter
Woofer
•A woofer is a driver that reproduces low frequencies.
Some loudspeaker systems use a woofer for the lowest
frequencies, making it possible to avoid using a
subwoofer.
•Additionally, some loudspeakers use the woofer to
handle middle frequencies, eliminating the mid-range
driver.
•This can be accomplished with the selection of a tweeter
that responds low enough combined with a woofer that
responds high enough that the two drivers add
coherently in the middle frequencies.
Mid-range driver
• A mid-range speaker is a loudspeaker driver which
reproduces middle frequencies.
• Mid-range drivers can be made of paper or composite
materials, or be compression drivers.
• If the mid-range driver is cone-shaped, it can be
mounted on the front baffle of a loudspeaker enclosure,
or it can be mounted at the throat of a horn for added
output level and control of radiation pattern.
• If it is a compression driver, it is invariably mated to a
horn.
Tweeter
• A tweeter is a high-frequency driver that typically
reproduces the highest frequency band of a loudspeaker.
• Many varieties of tweeter design exist, each with
differing abilities with regard to frequency response,
output fidelity, power handling, maximum output level,
etc.
• Soft dome tweeters are widely found in home stereo
systems, and horn-loaded compression drivers are
common in professional sound reinforcement.
• Ribbon tweeters have gained popularity in recent years,
as their output power has been increased to levels useful
for professional sound reinforcement, and their pattern
control is conveniently shaped for concert sound.
Specifications label on a loudspeaker
Thank you!
Jaye Balbin
jjbalbin@yahoo.com
09156613222