Propagation of sound

Sound Spectrum : A sound spectrum is a representation of a sound usually a short sample of a sound in terms of the amount of vibration at each individual frequency. It is usually presented as a graph of either power or pressure as a function of frequency. The power or pressure is usually measured in decibels and the frequency is measured in vibrations per second (or hertz, abbreviation Hz) or thousands of vibrations per second (kilohertz, abbreviation kHz). You can think of the sound spectrum as a sound recipe: take this amount of that frequency, add this amount of that frequency etc until you have put together the whole, complicated sound.

nverse Square Law, Sound The sound intensity from a point source of sound will obey the inverse square law if there are no reflections or reverberation. A plot of this intensity drop shows that it drops off rapidly.

Directional Sound : Directional sound is a technology that concentrates acoustic energy into a narrow beam so that it can be projected to a discrete area, much as a spotlight focuses light. Focused in this manner, sound waves behave in a manner somewhat resembling the coherence of light waves in a laser. When a sound beam is aimed at a listener, that person senses the sound as if it is coming from a headset or from "inside the head." When the listener steps out of the beam, or when the beam is aimed in a different direction, the sound disappears completely. There are many possible applications of directional sound, for example: People driving in a car could listen to different music without using headphones. One person could watch a loud television program while someone sitting next to them listened to classical music or enjoyed peace and quiet. A high-power sound beam could be directed at an assailant or fleeing criminal suspect, subduing that person while minimizing the effects on other people in the area.

Sound & Distance : 6 dB fall per doubling of distance

For a point source, the sound pressure level falls by 6 dB every time the distance between the source and the listener is doubled. So, if a loudspeaker at an outdoor concert created a sound pressure level of 90 dB at a position 12 m away, we would expect the level to fall to 84 dB (which is 6 dB lower) at 24 m (double the distance) and we would expect it to rise to 96 dB (which is 6 dB higher) at 6 m (half the distance).
Distance away (m) Sound pressure level (dB) 3 102 6 96 12 90 24 84 48 78 96 192

6 dB fall per doubling of distance

110 100 90 80 70 60 0 50 D s n e ro 100 150 200 e s our e ( )

Sound pressure level (dB)

Listening position 1

Change in the sound pressure level between these two positions = 20 Log(R/r)

Listening position 2

Sound Masking : Sound masking is the addition of natural or artificial sound (commonly, though inaccurately, referred to as "white noise" or "pink noise") into an environment to cover-up unwanted sound by using auditory masking. Sound masking reduces or eliminates awareness of pre-existing sounds in a given area and can make a work environment more comfortable, while creating speech privacy so workers can better concentrate and be more productive. Sound masking can also be used in the outdoors to restore a more natural ambient environment. Sound masking can be explained by analogy with light. Imagine a dark room where someone is turning a flashlight on and off. The light is very obvious and distracting. Now imagine that the room lights are turned on. The flashlight is still being turned on and off, but is no longer noticeable because it has been "masked". Sound masking is a similar process of covering a distracting sound with a more soothing or less intrusive sound

Decibel : The decibel (abbreviated dB) is the unit used to measure the intensity of a sound. On the decibel scale, the smallest audible sound (near total silence) is 0 dB. A sound 10 times more powerful is 10 dB. A sound 100 times more powerful than near total silence is 20 dB. A sound 1,000 times more powerful than near total silence is 30 dB. Here are some common sounds and their decibel ratings: Near total silence - 0 dB A whisper - 1 dB Normal conversation - 60 dB A lawnmower - 90 dB A car horn - 110 dB A rock concert or a jet engine - 120 dB A gunshot or firecracker - 140 dB Any sound above 8 dB can cause hearing loss. Eight hours of 90-dB sound can cause damage to your ears; any exposure to 140-dB sound causes immediate damage (and causes actual pain).