If a wave is confined to a closed space, it undergoes both reflection and interference.

For example, consider a tube of length l. A disturbance anywhere in the air in the
tube will be reflected from both ends and produce in general a series of waves
traveling in both directions along the tube. From the geometry of the situation and
the finite constant value of acoustic velocity, these must be periodic waves with
frequencies fixed by the boundary conditions at the end of the tube. The allowed
frequencies of the waves in the tube satisfy sin kl = 0; i.e., the allowed frequencies are
ν = nv/2l, where n is any integer and v is the acoustic velocity in the tube. These are
the frequencies of harmonic waves that can exist in the tube and still satisfy the
boundary conditions at the ends. They are called the characteristic frequencies or
normal modes of vibration of the air column. The fundamental frequency (n = 1) is ν
= v/2l.