Introduction

to
Noise &
Acoustics

Level 5
Environmental
Management
 Welcome to this
introduction to the
fascinating world of sound.
(At least we think so.)
In these presentations we shall
consider:-
 What is sound?
 A little on sound waves
 More on how we measure it
What is sound?
 Sound is a disturbance in the atmosphere,
which travels in three dimensions
 The disturbance causes very small
fluctuations in air pressure.
 Sound behaves as a wave.
 Sound is a form of energy
 More on this later
What is sound?
 Soundwaves cause very small changes in
air pressure as they move past a point
 This change is air pressure is the sound
pressure.
 Pressure is measured in pascals (Pa);
 1 pascal is equivalent to 1 newton (about
100g) per square metre
 What is sound?
 Normal atmospheric pressure is about
100,000 Pa
 A noisy environment may involve a sound pressure
of about 1 Pa
 A sound wave that causes a 1% fluctuation in air
pressure is a very loud sound indeed.
 For comparison, normal weather variations may
cause a pressure change of 3,000Pa or 3% in the
course of a day.
 What is sound?
 The table below shows how relatively small
these changes in air pressure are:-

Atmospheric pressure 100 000 Pa 105 Pa

Barely audible sound 0.000 01Pa 10-5 Pa
100m from jet taking off 1000 Pa 103 Pa
What is noise?

 Noise is the same as sound

 It is normally called noise if it is
unwanted
 Waves
 Sound behaves as a wave as it travels
 Mexican Wave can travel through a
crowd at a football match
 Wave travels round stadium but people
all return to start position in seat: -

© 2002 Dr. Dan Russell - Kettering University Applied Physics

 Longitudinal Wave
 The graphic models a
sound wave passing from
right to left.
 Air behaves as if there are
air particles (dark blobs)
linked with weak springs
 These elastic forces cause
air particles to bunch up &
move apart as a sound
wave passes
 Longitudinal Wave

 When molecules bunch

up together = a
compression
 Resulting in a momentary
increase in pressure
above atmospheric
 because more
molecules/unit volume
 think what happens
when you fill car tyre
with air molecules!
 Longitudinal Wave
 Followed by air particles
moving apart -rarefaction
 Causes a small reduction in
air pressure
 because less
molecules/unit volume
 think what happens when
allow air molecules out of
car tyre!
 Momentarily between each
compression and rarefaction
change in air pressure is zero.
 Longitudinal Wave

Note:
 Sound waves are
longitudinal waves
 ie Movement of the air
particles as the
soundwave passes is in
the same plane as the
direction of the wave.
 Sound waves

• As a sound wave passes

a stationery point it causes A sound wave

the air pressure to

fluctuate very slightly.

Sound pressure
• The graph shows this
variation of pressure with
time. Time

• Each time the pressure

rises, falls and Wave cycle

momentarily returns to air

pressure is a cycle.
 Sound waves

• Note the graph illustrates A sound wave

the change in air pressure

caused by sound wave

Sound pressure
• Air particles move to and
fro around a fixed position
in the same direction in Time
which the wave is moving
Wave cycle
 Longitudinal Waves Involving Air
Molecules Translated into Graph of
Pressure Fluctuations

The above graphic is intended to show variation of air

pressure at a point over time due to passage of sound
wave
 Frequency of sound waves

• The number of times this

cycle of varying pressure A sound wave

happens in one second is

the frequency of the

Sound pressure
sound, often abbreviated
to f.
• Frequency is measured in Time

Hz
• 1 Hz = 1 cycle per second Wave cycle
 Frequency of sound waves

• We hear frequency as the

pitch (high or low) of a A sound wave

sound.
• A person with excellent

Sound pressure
hearing acuity (usually
young adult) may have an
audible frequency range Time

of 20Hz to 20,000 Hz
• Real sounds contain a Wave cycle

mixture of frequencies
 A sound wave – as seen
from one side
• Soundwaves travel at about
A sound wave 340m/s
Wavelength • This graph shows changes
in air pressure across a
Sound pressure

distance at a moment in
time.
Distance
• The distance travelled in
one cycle is the
wavelength.
• Wavelength is usually
abbreviated using the
Greek letter (lamda)
• It is measured in metres, m.
 Wave properties

Sound behaves as a wave, similar to

light. Both demonstrate the following
properties, which are common to all
waves:-
Reflection

Diffraction

Refraction

Interference
 Reflection

• Sound is reflected off hard

surfaces
• As such it obeys Snell’s law
Architectural Acoustics - Brel & Kjr
• So:- 1978
Angle of incidence = Angle of
reflection
Angle of incidence = angle of reflection
 Reflection of sound waves
 Probably most important wave property of sound
 Sound reflected off hard surfaces
 Reflected sound increases sound levels.
 Noise reflected off a large building can make an
aircraft appear to be in the opposite direction
 Sound in rooms are a result of multiple
reflections from surfaces = Reverberant sound
 Surfaces may reflect different frequencies to
different extents
 Diffraction
 Diffraction of sound is shown by the tendency of
waves to bend round corners
 This is more pronounced at long wavelengths
(low frequencies)
 Diffraction is not always obvious with light
 But sound waves have longer wavelengths and
readily bend round corners
 So you can hear someone talking about you
outside the room
 The sound bends round the door and doorframe.
 Refraction
 When sound is transmitted into a different
medium, the speed and direction changes.
 Similar to light appearing to bend when
passing from air to water.
 Refraction makes Normal
water look Observer

shallower than it is
 Refraction of sound Air - higher speed

becomes more Water - lower speed Ground

important when
considering the
effect of the Apparent depth

weather on sound
levels over longer Actual depth

distances
Sound Power
 Sound is form of energy
 So sound sources are sources of acoustic
energy
 The rate at which it emits sound energy is
the sound power
= sound energy emitted per second
 This is measured in watts (1 watt = 1 joule
per second).
 The sound power is a characteristic of that
source.
 Sound power
level
• The size of the source is
also measured in
decibels, dB
• This is the sound power
level
• It is often abbreviated to
LWA and may be
displayed on machinery
and outdoor power tools
• More on decibels later.
 Sound Power and Sound
Pressure.
 The sound power of a source usually
does not change.
 However the sound pressure (and how
loud the sound seems) depends on the
distance from the noise source and any
hard surfaces that may reflect the sound.
 Sound Power and Sound
Pressure.
 A 11Watt low energy light bulb
 remains a 11 watt light bulb wherever
used/placed, but
 The light reading on light meter (in
lumens) will be high when close but lower
at a distance.
 Similarly a sound source of 1 watt
remains 1 watt source irrespective of
where placed/used, BUT
 Sound pressure (loudness) will be high
when close but lower at distance.
Summary

In this part we have seen that:-

 Sound = minute pressure changes in air

 Sound behaves as a wave, displaying:-

 Reflection
 Refraction
 Diffraction
 Sound power = property of source,
irrespective of position
 Sound pressure vary with position
 Next time

In lectures we will look at how sound is

measured:-
What are decibels?

Sound pressure levels (SPL), sound

power levels
Addition and subtraction of SPLs

What about changing sound levels?

You’ll need a calculator with a log button.