acoustics

Unit-II
Fundamental
s
Fundamentals:

Sound Generation

- is generated when pressure

oscillations are generated in an elastic
medium at rates that are detectable by
a hearing medium.

- sound is generated whenever there is

a disturbance of an elastic medium.

- physical phenomenon that stimulates

the sense of hearing.
 Fundamentals:
Sound Generation
- is a form of energy produced by
vibrating objects.
- is a waveform that travels in matter.
Sound wave propagates in all directions.
Sound Pressure Compression / Rarefaction

High

Normal

Low

Time

Time domain plot of a waveform:

a graph showing amplitude changes
Fundamentals:

SOUND
Sound is a wave motion
in air or other elastic
media

Sound is the sensation stimulated in

the organs of hearing by mechanical
radiant energy transmitted as
longitudinal pressure waves through
the air or other medium
Fundamentals:

“Photo of sound transmission”

Fundamentals:

Sound Wave – a longitudinal pressure

wave in air or an elastic medium,
especially one producing an audible
sensation
Wavelength – the distance, measured in
the direction of propagation of a wave,
from any one point to the next point of
corresponding phase

Amplitude – the maximum deviation of

a wave from its average value
Fundamentals:

Frequency – the number of cycles per

unit time of a wave

Hertz – the SI unit of frequency, equal

to one cycle per second (Hz)
Fundamentals:

Sound is measured in decibels (dB), a

logarithmic scale that compares the
amplitudes of two sound waves. A doubling
of amplitude represents a difference of
about 6 dB.
• Intensity: power of the changes in air
pressure as they contact your ear
• Sound Pressure Level (SPL): intensity of
a sound relative to the threshold of hearing,
measured in dB
Fundamentals:
Fundamentals:
Acoustics is generally a linear
phenomenon
Fundamentals:
Fundamentals:

Sound filled is a region filled with one

several sound waves

Sound waves with frequency range to

human hearing is between 20 Hz –
20,000 Hz
Hertz is the unit of frequency

1 Hz = 1 period/second
Fundamentals:

SOUND PROPAGATION:

REFLECTION

REFRACTION

DIFFRACTION

DIFFUSION
Fundamentals:

REFLECTION

- When a sound wave encounters a

sharp discontinuity in the density of its
medium, some of its energy is
reflected.

- Reflected sound energy follows the law

of optics, reflected energy have equal
angles of reflection and incidence.
Fundamentals:

REFRACTION

- A change in direction which sound

waves undergoes when entering a
different medium
Fundamentals:

DIFFUSION

- The reflection of sound off a convex or

uneven surface.

- The process of spreading or dispersing

radiated energy so that it is less direct
or coherent.
Fundamentals:

DIFFRACTION

- The bending of the travel of sound

caused by an obstacle in its path.

- The bending of waves around small

obstacles and the spreading out of
waves beyond small openings.
 Sound Transmission
 The requirements for the production of
sound waves are:
 1. A source which initiates a
mechanical disturbance.
 2. An elastic medium through which
the disturbance can be transmitted.
 Density Matters
 Dense air is a more efficient transmitter of
sound than rarefied air.
 At high altitudes, where the density of the
air is lower, less energy may be
transferred from the source to the air.
 Sound does not travel through a vacuum.
It is only transmitted through a material
medium.
 Sound travels very effectively through
solids and liquids.
 Speed of Sound
 Medium velocity m/sec
air (20º C) 343
air (0º C) 331
water (25º C) 1493
sea water 1533
diamond 12000
iron 5130
copper 3560
glass 5640
 Summary
depends on the amplitude of vibration
Soft Loud
Loudness

depends on frequency
Properties OR
Pitch Low High
Characteristics
of sound

depends on waveform
Quality or Clearer Mixed
Timbre
 Loudness

Compare the waveforms below:

What is the difference between them?

The amplitude of vibration.

So how do we vary the amplitude?
 Loudness

The loudness of sound is dependent on the

amount of energy which is transferred to the
medium.
It in turn is dependent on the amplitude of
vibrations of the object.

The greater the energy from

the source Larger amplitude of Louder
(More energy transfer) vibration sound
 Pitch

Sound waves are caused when a vibrating

object introduce vibration into a medium.
Vibrating objects e.g. vocal cords,
guitar string, tines of tuning fork,
Medium e.g. air, water particles etc.

How often the particles of the medium

vibrate is referred to the frequency of a
wave.
 Pitch

Compare the waveforms below:

Higher
frequency!

What determines the pitch of sound?

The frequency of vibration.

So how do we vary the pitch? E.g. guitar string

 Quality
Similar musical notes (i.e. same pitch) sounds
different on different instruments (e.g. piano and
guitar).
These sounds have different quality or timbre.

Tuning fork Piano Trumpet

 Quality

Compare the waveforms below:

What determines the quality of sound?

The waveform.
 Loudness of Sound in Decibels
Sound Loudness (dbs) Hearing
Damage
Average Home 40-50

Loud Music 90-100 After long

exposure
Rock Concert 115-120 Progressive

Jet Engine 120-170 Pain

Ultrasound
-sound waves with frequencies above
the normal human range of hearing.
Sounds in the range from 20-
100kHz
Infrasound
- sounds with frequencies below the
normal human range of hearing.
Sounds in the 20-200 Hz range
Doppler Effect
is the apparent change in the
frequency of a sound caused by
the motion of either the listener
or the source of the sound.
 Sounds from Moving Sources.
› A moving source of sound or a moving
observer experiences an apparent shift
of frequency called the Doppler Effect.
› If the source is moving as fast or faster
than the speed of sound, the sound
waves pile up into a shock wave called a
sonic boom.
› A sonic boom sounds very much like the
pressure wave from an explosion
Supersonic Flight
What we have covered…

Production Vibrating
sources

Transmission Requires a
medium

Detection Audibility
Sound
Reflection Echoes

Measuring its Direct and

speed indirect method

Pitch, Loudness Different

and Quality waveforms
INVERSE - SQUARE LAW FOR SOUND
 INVERSE - SQUARE LAW FOR SOUND

Another very important but

little known acoustical
phenomena is the Inverse
Square Law. As a sound
wave propagates spherically,
the sound energy is
distributed over the ever-
increasing surface diameter
of the wave front surface.
 INVERSE - SQUARE LAW FOR SOUND
The Inverse Square Law
teaches us that for every
doubling of the distance
from the sound source in a
free field situation, the sound
intensity will by -6 decibels.
 INVERSE - SQUARE LAW FOR SOUND
Under ideal conditions a free field could be
represented by a sound signal being generated from a
mountain peak. In real life situations however, rooms
bounded by walls, floors and ceilings will interrupt the
inverse square law at a distance in tan average 30′
square room at approximately 10-12 feet from the
sound source. Nevertheless it is important to accept
the notion that sound will diminish in intensity with
distance. For example, in a typical classroom with a
teachers voice signal of 65 decibels at a three-foot
distance from the teacher; at 6 feet away the sound
intensity will be 59 decibels and at twelve feet it will
diminish down to 53 decibels. (This is important to
remember as we discuss the Signal to Noise Ratio
S/NR later on)
Decibel scale: