Chapter 2: THE PROPERTIES OF SOUND The sensation we know as sound is produced when air is vibrated at an intensity and frequency

within the range of the human ear. These vibrations cause rapidly alternating changes in the air pressure which travel away from the source rather like ripples from a stone dropped in water, but at a speed of 344 metres per second or 720 miles per hour. When these pressure changes reach our ears they vibrate our eardrums in a manner corresponding to the vibration of the source, which via the remarkable and complex mechanisms of the middle and inner ear, stimulates the auditory nerve to the cortex, The cortex area of the brain may generally be regarded as a mental data base which translates incoming stimulatory patterns from our various senses into recognisable information. This data base is partly inherited from our early ancestors together with our other senses as part of our survival mechanism, and partly from learned intellectual, emotional and sensory experiences all of which determine our perception and response. Another name for this learned response is conditioning and the listeners comment mentioned earlier about realistic sound not sounding like loudspeakers, is a good example commercial conditioning. Sound intensity is a measure of the vibrating air pressure at the ear. Loudness is how we perceive this and varies with the individual. Typically the ears of a normally healthy young person are incredibly sensitive and can detect some sounds where the amplitude of air vibration at the ear is less than one ten thousand millionth of a centimetre. This is equivalent in terms of energy to the intensity of light produced at the eyes of a 50-watt light bulb at a distance of 3,000 miles in free space. The lowest level of sound intensity we can hear is known as the threshold of hearing. At the other end of the scale, if the sound intensity is high enough it can cause pain, permanent damage to the hearing (often incurred by disco sound levels), The intensity ratio between the thresholds of hearing and pain is about 1,000,000 to one. However our auditory system does not sense this enormous ratio but tends to compress it logarithmically in terms of decibels, which, in this case is 120 dB. A table of decibels is given in the appendix. Ref. 1. In music, the ratio of intensities between the quietest (pp) and the loudest (ff) is about 4500 to one. (73 dB). Intensity ratio is also referred to as dynamic range. It should be noted that rock or disco music may be very loud but have, by definition, a very restricted dynamic range.

Frequency or Pitch This is the rate at which the alternating air pressure changes are repeated. The lowest frequency we can hear as sound is about 20 complete rise and fall pressure change cycles per second. This is written as 20 Hertz or 20Hz The highest frequency we can hear varies with age and sex but is normally taken as 20,000 Hz or 20 kHz (kilohertz). The frequency response of the ear is far from
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even and its maximum sensitivity occurs between 3 - 4 kHz. The musical term for frequency is pitch. Another aspect of frequency is wavelength. Referring back to our ripples in water, the wavelength would be the distance between two successive peaks. In the case of sound it will be the distance between two successive pressure peaks. The wavelength at any frequency equals the speed of sound, (344 metres per second) divided by the frequency. The wavelength at 20 Hz for example is 17.2 metres (156 ft.) at 1000 Hz it is 0.344 metres (1.1,28 ft.) and at 20 kHz it is 0.0172 metres (0.67 inches). Harmonics These determine 'character' of the sound - e.g. the different sound quality of a violin and a trombone even when playing the same note or the differences between two voices singing the same note. The differences are due to the fact that in nature there is no such thing as a pure single frequency note. Any single musical note consists of a fundamental frequency plus overtones of harmonically related frequencies, which are simple multiples of the fundamental frequency, and it is the relative magnitudes and phase of these overtones that define the tonal character or timbre of the instrument. Phase This is a measure of time alignment between the fundamental and harmonic frequencies. If this is altered within the reproducing chain both the quality of sound and sense of spatiality will be impaired. Below is shown the waveform of a pure tone and its second harmonic. (Fig:1a). The resulting summation is shown b. The effect of adding the third harmonic is shown, c. In d, the effect of time, (phase), shifting the second harmonic is shown and the resulting summation, e which can be seen to be very different from b. Fig: 1 a Fig 1b

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The waveforms of several musical instruments and the male voice are shown below, Fig:2. a: violin, b: flute, c: oboe, d: clarinet, e, The vowel, a as in father. f, electronic pulse. g, bell. Fig: 2 a b c

It has been shown that by Fourier transform that any repetitive waveform can be mathematically analysed as a fundamental and a series of harmonically related sine waves.

Transient Sounds These basically are sounds, which start very suddenly. Examples are tapping sounds, pistol shots, and castanets. Some instruments such as the piano plucked strings, and the triangle produce sounds, which start quickly and die away slowly; Fig; 2l. An electronic pulse; Fig; 2k, can produce sounds, which start and stop quickly. Some continuous sounds, which are rich in harmonics, may be considered in many respects as a continuous series of transient sounds produced in rapid succession as can be heard in the lower registers of trombone. Resonance Most things, including mechanical, electrical and acoustical elements tend to have one or more natural resonant frequencies at which they will most readily vibrate. If we tap a wine glass it will ring at a very well defined pitch and the sound will take some seconds to die away. This is called the resonant frequency. Tapping a cup will produce a far less well-defined note and tapping the table will elicit no discernible note at all. The basic requirements for a mechanical resonance are mass and springiness or compliance, which is the inverse of stiffness. These determine the resonant frequency. The duration and quality of the tone, referred to as the Q, which is defined as the ratio of the mass to the external or internal frictional losses. The wine glass is an example of a high Q resonance because of its low internal friction. Touching the rim of the glass introduces a relatively high frictional loss and the ringing becomes subdued and of short duration. This is referred to as damping and the damping factor is defined as the inverse of the Q. (Q originally referred to the Quality of the tuned circuits used in the early days of radio and defined by the reactance of the inductor divided by the resistance.
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In the case of the cup and more so the table, these have multiple resonant frequencies, which are not harmonically related but are highly damped. Dropping a tin can or scraping the inside of a saucepan produces examples of sound produced by multiple resonances, which are neither harmonically related nor highly damped. Again there are some sounds, which have no discernible resonances for example the roar of traffic, the sound of the wind and the sea. The wind only howls when it strikes solid objects and sets up oscillations due to eddy currents. Another way of regarding these sounds is to consider them as continuum of infinite resonances over a very broad frequency band.

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