Acoustics

Artificial omni-directional
directional sound source in anechoic acoustic chamber

Acoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of sound, ultrasound and
infrasound (all mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids). A scientist who works in the field
of acoustics is an acoustician.. The application of acoustics in technolo
technology
gy is called acoustical
engineering.. There is often much overlap and interaction between the interests of acousticians
and acoustical engineers.

Hearing is one of the most crucial means of survival in the animal world, and speech is one of
the most distinctive characteristics of human development and culture. So it is no surprise that
the science of acoustics spreads across so many facets of our society
society—music,
music, medicine,
architecture, industrial production, warfare and more. Art, cr
craft,
aft, science and technology have
provoked one another to advance the whole, as in many other fields of knowledge.

The word "acoustic" is derived from the Greek word ἀêïõóôéêüò (akoustikos), ), meaning "of or for
hearing, ready to hear" and that from ἀêïõóôüò (akoustos), "heard, audible"[2], which in turn
[1]

akouo), "I hear"[3]. The Latin synonym is "sonic". After

derives from the verb ἀêïýù (akouo
acousticians had extended their studies to frequencies above and below the audible range, it
became conventional to identify these frequency ranges as "ultrasonic" and "infrasonic"
respectively, while letting the word "acoustic" refer to the entire frequency ran
range
ge without limit.

Contents
 1 History of acoustics
o 1.1 Early research in acoustics
o 1.2 The Age of Enlightenment and onward
 2 Fundamental concepts of acoustics
o 2.1 Wave propagation: pressure levels
o 2.2 Wave propagation: frequency
o 2.3 Transduction in acoustics
 3 Divisions of acoustics
 4 See also
 5 Notes
  6 References
 7 External links

History of acoustics
Early research in acoustics

The fundamental and the first 6 overtones of a vibrating string. The earliest records of the study
of this phenomenon are attributed to Ancient Ch
Chinese 3000 BC.

Many books and websites about musical theory written by Western musicologists mention
Pythagoras as the first person studying the relation of string lengths to consonance.
consonance However,
from at least 3000 BC, the Chinese were already using a scale based on the knotted positions of
overtones that indicated the consonant pitches related to the open string, present at their Guqin[4].
Like the Chinese, Pythagoras wanted to know why some intervals seemed more beautiful than
others, and he found answers in terms of numerical ratios representing the harmonic overtone
series on a string. Aristotle (384--322 BC) understood that
hat sound consisted of contractions and
expansions of the air "falling upon and striking the air which is next to it...", a very good
expression of the nature of wave motion. In about 20 BC, the Romanoman architect and engineer
Vitruvius wrote a treatise on the acoustical properties of theatres including discussion of
interference, echoes, and reverberation acoustics [5]
reverberation—the beginnings of architectural acoustics.

The physical understanding of acoustical processes advanced rapidl

rapidly
y during and after the
Scientific Revolution. Galileo (1564
(1564–1642) and Mersenne (1588–1648)1648) independently
discovered the complete laws of vibrating strings (completing what Pythagoras had started 2000
years earlier). Galileo wrote "Waves are produced by the vibrations of a sonorous body, which
spread through the air, bringing to the tympanum of the ear a stimulus which the mind interprets
as sound", a remarkable le statement that points to the beginnings of physiological and
psychological acoustics. Experimental measurements of the speed of sound in air were carried
out successfully between
tween 1630 and 1680 by a number of investigators, prominently Mersenne.
Meanwhile Newton (1642–1727) derived the relationship for wave velocity in solids, a
cornerstone of physical acoustics (Principia, 1687).

The Age of Enlightenment and onward

The eighteenth century saw major advances in acoustics at the hands of the great mathematicians
of that era, who applied the new techniques of the calculus to the elaboration of wave
propagation theory. In the nineteenth century the giants of acoustics were Helmholtz in
Germany, who consolidated the field of physiological acoustics, and Lord Rayleigh in England,
who combined the previous knowledge with his own copious contributions to the field in his
monumental work "The Theory of Sound". Also in the 19th century, Wheatstone, Ohm, and
Henry developed the analogy between electricity and acoustics.

The twentieth century saw a burgeoning of technological applications of the large body of
scientific knowledge that was by then in place. The first such application was Sabine’s
groundbreaking work in architectural acoustics, and many others followed. Underwater acoustics
was used for detecting submarines in the first World War. Sound recording and the telephone
played important roles in a global transformation of society. Sound measurement and analysis
reached new levels of accuracy and sophistication through the use of electronics and computing.
The ultrasonic frequency range enabled wholly new kinds of application in medicine and
industry. New kinds of transducers (generators and receivers of acoustic energy) were invented
and put to use.

Fundamental concepts of acoustics

Jay Pritzker Pavilion

At Jay Pritzker Pavilion, a LARES system is combined with a zoned sound reinforcement
system, both suspended on an overhead steel trellis, to synthesize an indoor acoustic
environment outdoors.
The study of acoustics revolves around the generation, propagation and reception of mechanical
waves and vibrations.

The steps shown in the above diagram can be found in any acoustical event or process.
pro There are
many kinds of cause, both natural and volitional. There are many kinds of transduction process
that convert energy from some other form into acoustical energy, producing the acoustic wave.
There is one fundamental equation that describes ac acoustic
oustic wave propagation, but the phenomena
that emerge from it are varied and often complex. The wave carries energy throughout the
propagating medium. Eventually this energy is transduced again into other forms, in ways that
again may be natural and/or volitionally
litionally contrived. The final effect may be purely physical or it
may reach far into the biological or volitional domains. The five basic steps are found equally
well whether we are talking about an earthquake,, a submarine using sonar to locate its foe, or a
band playing in a rock concert.

The central stage in the acoustical process is wave propagation. This falls within the domain of
physical acoustics. In fluids,, sound propagates primarily as a pressure wave. In solids,
mechanical waves can take many forms including longitudinal waves, transverse waves and
surface waves.

Acoustics looks first at the pressure levels and frequencies in the sound wave. Transduction
processes are also of special importance.

Wave propagation: pressure level

levels

In fluids such as air and water, sound waves propagate as disturbances in the ambient pressure
level. While this disturbance is usually small, it is still noticeable to the human ear. The smallest
sound that a person can hear, known as the threshold of hea hearing,
ring, is nine orders of magnitude
smaller than the ambient pressure. The loudness of these disturbances is called the sound
pressure level,, and is measured on a log
logarithmic
arithmic scale in decibels. Mathematically, sound
pressure level is defined

where pref is the threshold of hearing and p is the change in pressure from the ambient pressure.
pascal [6].
The following table gives a few examples of sounds and their strengths in decibels and pascals
Example of Common Sound Pressure Amplitude Decibel Level

Threshold of Hearing 20×10-6 Pa 0 dB

Normal talking at 1 m 0.002 to 0.02 Pa 40 to 60 dB

Power lawnmower at 1 m 2 Pa 100 dB

Jet engine or rock concert 20 Pa 120 dB

Threshold of Pain 200 Pa 140 dB

Wave propagation: frequency

Physicists and acoustic engineers tend to discuss sound pressure levels in terms of frequencies,
partly because this is how our ears interpret sound. What we experience as "higher pitched" or
"lower pitched" sounds are pressure vibrations having a higher or lower number of cycles per
second. In a common technique of acoustic measurement, acoustic signals are sampled in time,
and then presented in more meaningful forms such as octave bands or time frequency plots. Both
these popular methods are used to analyze sound and better understand the acoustic
phenomenon.

The entire spectrum can be divided into three sections: audio, ultrasonic, and infrasonic. The
audio range falls between 20 Hz and 20,000 Hz. This range is important because its frequencies
can be detected by the human ear. This range has a number of applications, including speech
communication and music. The ultrasonic range refers to the very high frequencies: 20,000 Hz
and higher. This range has shorter wavelengths which allows better resolution in imaging
technologies. Medical applications such as ultrasonography and elastography rely on the
ultrasonic frequency range. On the other end of the spectrum, the lowest frequencies are known
as the infrasonic range. These frequencies can be used to study geological phenomenon such as
earthquakes.
Transduction in acoustics

An inexpensive low fidelity 3.5 inch driver, typically found in small radios

A transducer is a device for converting one form of energy into another. In an acoustical context,
this usually means converting sound energy into electrical energy (or vice versa). For nearly all
acoustic applications, some type of acoustic transducer is necessary. Acoustic transducers
include loudspeakers, microphones, hydrophones and sonar projectors. These devices convert an
electric signal to or from a sound pressure wave. The most widely used transduction principles
are electromagnetism (at lower frequencies) and piezoelectricity (at higher frequencies).

A subwoofer, used to generate lower frequency sound in speaker audio systems, is an

electromagnetic device. Subwoofers generate waves using a suspended diaphragm which
oscillates, sending off pressure waves. Electret microphones are a common type of microphone
which employ an effect similar to piezoelectricity. As the sound wave strikes the electret's
surface, the surface moves and sends off an electrical signal.
Divisions of acoustics
Countless subfields have been created as we have perfected our understanding of the underlying
physics of acoustics. The table below shows seventeen major subfields of acoustics established
in the PACS classification system. These have been grouped into three domains: physical
acoustics, biological acoustics and acoustical engineering.

Physical acoustics Biological acoustics Acoustical engineering

 Bioacoustics  Acoustic measurements

 Aeroacoustics  Musical acoustics and instrumentation
 General linear  Physiological acoustics  Acoustic signal
acoustics  Psychoacoustics processing
 Nonlinear acoustics  Speech communication  Architectural acoustics
 Structural acoustics (production;  Environmental acoustics
and vibration perception; processing  Transduction
 Underwater sound and communication  Ultrasonics
systems)  Room acoustics