INTRODUCTION TO ACOUSTICS

GODLY VOICES

The moans, grunts, and howls,

chirps, clicks, barks and whistles of
our ancestors may have originally
served solely to warn and beckon __
through our sentinel of the senses,
hearing—but we humans have
learned to manipulate these primitive
sound for many of our purpose

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 • Through the ages humans have
been immersed in a sea of sounds
and voices that are often
mesmerizing, maintaining an
almost godly authority over one’s
actions and emotions (perhaps not
so different from the hypnotist’s
control over a subject’s
perception of reality).
• In the right architectural space, the
human voice or music can be
transformed in a way that can inspire
faith, bring tears, and ease emotional
pain. To design successfully means
that the architect should understand
the very acoustical factors that can
produce such powerful responses.

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 HUMAN HEARING SYSTEM
Human ear forms the microphone to the brain.

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 Three linked bones in the middle
ear (the hammer, anvil and
stirrup) serve to transform the
relatively small displacements at
the eardrum (located in the ear
canal from the outer ear’s pinna)
into a larger displacements at the
oval window – the membrane
that separates the air filled
middle ear from the aqueous
solution of the coiled inner ear
(the cochlea). In the inner ear
the mechanical vibrations are
transformed into electrical
impulses to travel up the
auditory nerve to the brain.

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 Behind the eardrum are the tympanic cavities containing the three auditory ossicles,
(the malleus, incus, and stape)This area is called the middle ear

Transfer functions of the ear canal

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The sound pressure striking the eardrum is transduced into vibration. The middle ear
ossicles transmit the vibration to the cochlea. The vibration pattern of the human
eardrum was first measured by Bekesy (1960) by making a point-by-point examination
with an electric capacitive probe. Later, Tonndorf and Khanna (1972) measured the
vibration pattern by time-averaged holography, which allows finer vibration patterns on
the eardrum to be perceived, as shown in Figure. Note that the outline of the malleus is
visible in the pattern at the value of 3.5. The vibration on the malleus is transmitted to
the incus and the stapes.

Contour lines of equal amplitude of human

eardrum vibration at 525 Hz (121 dB SPL).

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 ‘Good acoustics’ depends on human perceptions, which depend on cultural standards
and norms. Although sound propagation is inefficient in air compared to more
condensed media (eg. Water, steel, rock), we are able to perceive sound that are so weak
they cause the eardrum to displace by less than the size of a single hydrogen atom.
Sound results from an organised disturbance of pressure in the air. For the faintest of
sounds, pressure disturbance amounts to a billionth of normal atmospheric pressure.
The loudest of sounds – ones that produce pain – have sound pressures only one
thousandth of an atmosphere.
Humans perceive rumbles as low as 20 Hz and squeaks up to 20, 000Hz. That’s almost
10 doublings of frequency from the lowest to highest perceived frequencies.
The ear is less sensitive at the lower and higher frequencies than it is at the medium
frequencies. We are most sensitive to frequencies between 2 and 4 kHz, partly because
our outer ear canal resonates in this frequency range. It is probably not a coincidence
that a baby’s cries have substantial frequency content in this range.

• Presbyacusis : it is the loss of sensitivity at higher frequencies. Happens due to over

exposure to loud noises.
• Tinnitus : Caused by external noises such as factories etc. It is a ringing or some
other kind of noise in their ears which comes on suddenly, lasts for a few seconds
and then dies away.
• Deafness : Hearing loss due to accidents, desease or exposure to loud noise.

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Even in a quiet residential area, the background noise (eg. Even from a breeze, distant
cars, transformers, crickets and other rustlings in the night) amounts to about 10-9
watts/m2 . Human speech contains energy from about 125 to 8000Hz.

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A rock band will, at times, produce decibel values in the range of 100-120dB. And pain
comes to one’s ears above 120 dB. Normal speech is in the 55-65dB range, with
energetic lectures at 75-80dB.

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• A sound wave must have a certain minimum value of pressure in order to be heard
by an observer. This value for selected observers, who have good hearing, who are
facing the source of plane progressive waves and listening with both ears, is called
the minimum audible threshold for a free field.

• An observer in the field of a free plane progressive wave will notice that, as the
pressure of the wave is increased, the resulting sound becomes louder and louder
until it attains a level at which the sound can be felt as well as heard. This level is
called the threshold of feeling.

* Please refer the last PPT (no.10) for references.

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