SOUND

BY

JEREMI, ROHIT, KEVIN, IX-H

Introduction To Sound SoundSound is nothing but a travelling wave that is an oscillation of pressuretransmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations. Human beings can hear a sound from 20hertz(Hz) to 20000hertz(Hz)(20KHz). Sound is Transmitted by either Longitudinal and transverse waves. The speed of sound depends on the medium the waves pass through, and is a fundamental property of the material. Sound is useful and dangerous/harming too. It can be used as a signal in security related matters and it can be dangerous as it can harm small children or old people and can

result in something wrong happening . Loud sound is known as noise and it can result in hearing loss.

NoiseNoise is a term often used to refer to an unwanted sound. In science and engineering, noise is an undesirable component that obscures a wanted Signal.

Perception Of Sound For humans, hearing is normally limited to frequencies between

about12 Hz and 20,000 Hz (20 kHz), although these limits are not definite. The upper limit generally decreases with age. Other species have a

different range of hearing. For example, dogs can perceive vibrations higher

than 20 kHz. As a signal perceived by one of the major senses, sound is used

by many species for detecting danger, navigation, predation, And communication. Earth's atmosphere, water, and virtually

any physical phenomenon, such as fire, rain, wind, Surf, or earthquake, produces

(and is characterized by) its unique sounds. Many species, such

as frogs, birds, marine and terrestrial mammals, have also developed

special organs to produce sound. In some species, these produce song and speech. Furthermore, humans have developed culture and technology (such As music, telephone and radio) that allows them to generate, record, transmit, and broadcast sound.

Speed Of Sound The speed of sound depends on the medium the waves pass through, and is a fundamental property of the material. In general, the speed of sound is proportional to the square root of the ratio of the elastic modulus (stiffness) of the medium to its density. Those physical properties and the speed of sound change with ambient conditions. For example, the speed of sound in gases depends on temperature. In 20 °C (68 °F) air at the sea level, the speed of sound is approximately 343 m/s (1,230 km/h; 767 mph) using the formula "v = (331 + 0.6T) m/s". In fresh water, also at 20 °C, the speed of sound is approximately 1,482 m/s (5,335 km/h; 3,315 mph). In steel, the speed of sound is about 5,960 m/s (21,460 km/h; 13,330 mph). The speed of sound is also slightly sensitive to the sound amplitude, which means that there are nonlinear propagation effects, such as the production of harmonics and mixed tones not present in the original sound (see parametric array).

Sound Measurement

The easiest way to measure sound is with a output meter.The procedure is given below :-

With an Output Meter

1. Make sure that your equipment is properly connected. Consult the user's manual to determine which inputs and outputs are necessary for your project.

2. Test your equipment by running some type of audio. It can be a voice through a microphone or something pre-recorded. If you are able to hear the audio, it means that everything is connected and working properly.

3. Begin running your audio (either voice or sound through a microphone or a pre-recorded audio clip). Monitor the audio output meter on your equalizer or mixing board. It will give you a reading on the levels of your audio.

Frequency, Wavelength, Pitch And Frequency Spectrum The frequency is the number of wave crests per unit time that pass

a fixed location  Wavelength  is the – the distance over which the wave's shape

repeats. The sensation of a frequency is commonly referred to as

the pitch of a sound.

A source of light can have many colors mixed together and in different amounts (intensities). A rainbow, or prism, sends the different frequencies in different directions, making them individually visible at different angles. A graph of the intensity plotted against the frequency (showing the amount of each color) is the frequency spectrum of the light

Sound Effect Sound effects or audio effects are artificially created or enhanced sounds, or sound processes used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. In motion picture and television production, a sound effect is a sound recorded and presented to make a specific storytelling or creative point without the use of dialogue or music. The term often refers to a process applied to a recording, without necessarily referring to the recording itself. In professional motion picture and television production, dialogue, music, and sound effects recordings are treated as separate elements. Dialogue and music recordings are never referred

to as sound effects, even though the processes applied to them, such as

reverberation or flanging effects, often are called "sound effects".

Video games The principles involved with modern video game sound effects (since the introduction of sample playback) are essentially the same as those of motion pictures. Typically a game project requires two jobs to be completed: sounds must be recorded or selected from a library and a sound engine must be programmed

so that those sounds can be incorporated into the game's interactive environment.

Pitch, Amplitude And Propagation Of Sound

The sensation of a frequency is commonly referred to as the pitch of a sound. Amplitude is the magnitude of change in the oscillating variable with each oscillation within an oscillating system. For example, sound waves in air are oscillations in atmospheric pressure and their amplitudes are proportional to the change in pressure during one oscillation. If a variable undergoes regular oscillations, and a graph of the system is drawn with the oscillating variable as the vertical axis and time as the horizontal axis, the amplitude is visually represented by the vertical distance between the extreme of the curve. Propagation means "movement through" something in this context. You can study the propagation of sound through air, for example, the most common kind of sound there is for people. Sound propagates through water as well, as you can easily prove by taking a dip in the pool. Does sound propagate through a vacuum? Does it propagate through other materials? These are testable questions.

How Does Sound Travel Sound is transmitted by particles (atoms or molecules) in a solid, liquid or gas

colliding with each other. It is a wave which is created by vibrating objects and propagated

through a medium (solid, liquid or gas) from one location to another. Solids are made up of particles (atoms) that do not move about because they

are closely packed (touching each other) and held together by strong intermolecular forces.

Therefore, they are always in a fixed position and can only vibrate in a fixed position,

sending sound waves along its path very fast. In liquid, the particles are constantly moving and so the particles change their

position, but they are not fixed to each other that strongly as they are in a solid. They can also

vibrate and collide with other of their particles over a short range. This is because the

attractive forces are not strong enough to hold them in a fixed position. So, sound will travel

slightly less fast through Liquids. In gas, particles in gases are very far apart from each other. They can vibrate

as well as move freely and randomly in all direction. there is no force of attraction between gas

particles. Gas molecules must move quite a distance before they collide with other molecules.

Sound energy cannot move as quickly when the molecules are not in contact with each other.

sound waves traveling through this medium, will be much slower than that of a liquid and a

solid respectively.

Properties Of Sound WavesAll waves have certain properties. The three most important ones for audio work are shown here:

Wavelength: The distance between any point on a wave and the equivalent point on the next phase. Literally, the length of the wave.

Amplitude: The strength or power of a wave signal. The "height" of a wave when viewed as a graph. Higher amplitudes are interpreted as a higher volume, Hence the name "amplifier" for a device which increases amplitude.

Frequency: The number of times the wavelength occurs in one second. Measured in kilohertz (Khz), or cycles per second. The faster the sound Source vibrates, the higher the frequency. Higher frequencies are interpreted as a higher pitch. For when you sing in a high-pitched voice you are forcing your vocal chords to vibrate quickly.

Speed And Multiple Reflection Of Sound

Speed of sound is the distance traveled per a unit of time by a sound wave propagating through an elastic medium. In dry air at 20 °C (68 °F), the

speed of sound is 343 metres per second (1,125 ft/s). This equates to

1,236 kilometres per hour (768 mph), or about one kilometer in three seconds or approximately

one mile in five seconds. The speed of sound in air is referred to as Mach 1 by aerospace professionals.Speed of sound = 331.4 m/s at 0›C and increases 0.6 m/s for each degree above zero.

Multiple Reflection of sound :- Multiple reflection of sound is the process in which sound waves bounces

off obstacles and reflects many times before reaching the destination. this is the phenomena that occurs in a stethescope. sound waves reflect through the tube many times before reaching the ears of the doctor. It is very helpful in detecting problems.

Reverberation Reverberation is the persistence of sound in a particular space after the original sound is removed. A reverberation, or reverb, is created when a sound is produced in an enclosed space causing a large number of echoes to build up and then slowly decay as the sound is absorbed by the walls and air. This is most noticeable when the sound source stops but the reflections continue, decreasing in amplitude, until they can no longer be heard. The length of this sound decay, or reverberation time, receives special consideration in the architectural design of large chambers, which need to have specific reverberation times to achieve optimum performance for their intended activity. In comparison to a distinct echo that is 50 to 100ms after the initial sound, reverberation is many thousands of echoes that arrive in very quick succession (.01 – 1 ms between echoes). As time passes, the volume of the many echoes is reduced until the echoes cannot be heard at all.

Echo And Famous Echoes In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo (plural echoes) is a reflection of

sound, arriving at the listener some time after the direct sound. Typical examples are the

echo produced by the bottom of a well, by a building, or by the walls of an enclosed

room. A true echo is a single reflection of the sound source. The time delay is the extra distance

divided by the speed of sound.

Famous Echoes :-

Gol Gumbaz of Bijapur, India: Any whisper, clap or sound gets echoed repeatedly. The Golkonda Fort of Hyderabad, India The Whispering Gallery of St Paul's Cathedral, London, England Echo Point, the Three Sisters, Katoomba, Australia The Temple of Kukulcan ("El Castillo"), Chichen Itza, Mexico The Baptistry of Pisa, Pisa, Italy The echo near Milan visited by Mark Twain in The Innocents Abroad The echo in Chinon which is used in a traditional local rhyme

HEARING RANGE Hearing range usually describes the range of frequencies that can be heard by an animal or human, though it can also refer to the range of levels. In humans the audible range of frequencies is usually said to be 20 Hz (cycles per second) to 20 kHz (20,000 Hz), although there is considerable variation between individuals, especially at the high frequency end, where a gradual decline with age is considered normal.

Sensitivity also varies a lot with frequency, as shown by equal-loudness contours, which are normally only measured for research purposes, or detailed investigation. Routine investigation for hearing loss usually involvesan audiogram which shows threshold levels relative to a standardised norm.

SpeciesApproximate Range

(Hz) 

human 64-23,000

dog 67-45,000 

cat 45-64,000 

cow 23-35,000 

rat 200-76,000 

bat 2,000-110,000 

elephant 16-12,000 

goldfish 20-3,000 

owl  200-12,000 

chicken  125-2,000 

ULTRASOUND Ultrasound is cyclic sound pressure with a frequency greater than the upper limit of human hearing. Although this limit varies from person to person, it is approximately 20 kilohertz (20,000 hertz) in healthy, young adults and thus, 20 kHz serves as a useful lower limit in describing ultrasound. The production of ultrasound is used in many different fields, typically to penetrate a medium and measure the reflection signature or supply focused energy. The reflection signature can reveal details about the inner structure of the medium, a property also used by animals such as bats for hunting. The most well known application of ultrasound is its use in sonography to produce pictures of fetuses in the human womb. There are a vast number of other applications as well. Ability to hear ultrasound The upper frequency limit in humans (approximately 20 kHz) is due to limitations of the middle ear, which acts as a low-pass filter. Ultrasonic hearing can occur if ultrasound is fed directly into the skull bone and reaches the cochlea through bone conduction without passing through the middle ear. It is a fact in psychoacoustics that children can hear some high-pitched sounds that older adults cannot hear, because in humans the upper limit pitch of hearing tends to become lower with age. A cell phone company has used this to create ring signals supposedly only able to be heard by younger humans; but many older people are able to hear it, which may be due to the considerable variation of age-related deterioration in the upper hearing threshold. Some animals — such as dogs, cats, dolphins, bats, and mice — have an upper frequency

limit that is greater than that of the human ear and thus can hear ultrasound, which is how a dog whistle works.

SONAR Sonar (originally an acronym for SOund Navigation And Ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in Submarine navigation) to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels. Two types of technology share the name "sonar": passive sonar is essentially listening

for the sound made by vessels; active sonar is emitting pulses of sounds and listening for echoes. Sonar may be used as a means of acoustic locationand

of measurement of the echo characteristics of "targets" in the water. Acoustic location in air was used before the introduction of radar. Sonar may also be used in air for robot navigation, and SODAR(an upward looking in-air sonar) is used for atmospheric investigations. The term sonar is also used for the equipment used to generate and receive the sound. The acoustic frequencies used in sonar systems vary from very low (infrasonic) to extremely high (ultrasonic). The study of underwater sound is known as underwater acoustics or hydroacoustics.

HUMAN EAR (STRUCTURE) The ear is the anatomical organ that detects sound. It not only acts as a receiver for sound, but also plays a major role in the sense of balance and body position. The ear is part of the auditory system. The word "ear" may be used correctly to describe the entire organ or just the visible portion. In most mammals, the visible ear is a flap of tissue that is also called the pinna and is the first of many steps in hearing. In people, the pinna is often called the auricle. Vertebrates have a pair of ears, placed symmetrically on opposite sides of the face. This arrangement aids in the ability to localize sound sources. Introduction to ears and hearing

Audition is the scientific name for the sense of sound. Sound is a form of energy that moves through air, water, and other matter, in waves of pressure. Sound is the means of auditory communication, including frog calls, bird songs and spoken language. Although the ear is the vertebrate sense organ that recognizes sound, it is the brain and central nervous system that "hears". Sound waves are perceived by the brain through the firing of nerve

cells in the auditory portion of the central nervous system. The ear changes sound pressure waves from the outside world into a signal of nerve impulses sent to the brain.

Characteristics Of Sound Waves And Sound

Sounds are generally audible to the human ear if their frequency (number of

vibrations per second) lies between 20 and 20,000 vibrations per second (Hertz),

but the range varies considerably with the individual. Sound waves with frequencies less than those of audible waves are called subsonic; those with frequencies above the audible range are called ultrasonic.

Sound waves can be reflected, refracted (or bent), and absorbed as light waves

can be. The reflection of sound waves can result in an echo—an important factor

in the acoustics of theaters and auditoriums. A sound wave can be reinforced with

waves from a body having the same frequency of vibration, but the combination

of waves of different frequencies of vibration may produce “beats” or pulsations or

may result in other forms of interference.

Conclusion Sound is nothing but waves travelling with different

frequency, wave length and pitch. As to humans sound of particular

frequency is Hearable that is 20Hz to 20,000 Hz. This frequency is

expressed in hertz (Hz). We can measure the sound in many ways the

simplest way is with an output meter. The three most important

properties for audio work are wavelength ,amplitude , frequency.

Reverberation is the persistence of sound in a particular space after the original

sound is removed. Echo is the reflection of sound sometime after

hearing the original sound . It can be heard in an empty room.