HEARING AND SOUND STUDY SHEET

Miss Fox has been teaching the Hearing and Sound unit
in Science. Students have participated in lots of
different experiments and activities and now it is time
for the unit test, which will be on Thursday, March
16th. Please review this study sheet with your child in
order to prepare it!

Sounds are created by vibrations. Vibration is when an object moves

back and forth.
The larger the vibration, the louder the sound. The smaller the
vibration, the quieter the sound.
Pitch is how high or low a sound is. A high pitch sound has fast
vibrations. A low pitch sound has slow vibrations (remember low and
slow).
Some examples of high pitched sounds are:
o Baby crying
o Piccolo/flute
Some examples of low pitched sounds are:
o Whale call
o Cow moo
When a thin elastic is plucked, it makes a high pitched sound
because it vibrates fast. When a thick elastic is plucked, it makes a
low pitched sound because it vibrates slow.
The loudness of a sound is called volume. Volume is measured in
decibels using a sound meter.
Some examples of loud sounds are:
o Shouting
o Dropping a book
Some examples of quiet sounds are:
o A mouse
o Whispering
We use our ears to hear sounds. The three main parts of the ear are:
o Outer ear
Contains the pinna and the ear canal. The pinna brings
sounds into the ear and guides them down the ear canal
and to the middle ear.
o Middle ear
Contains the eardrum and three tiny bones (hammer,
anvil, and stirrup) use the acronym HAS to remember.
The eardrum amplifies the sound vibrations and the
 three tiny bones transfer this amplified sound to the
inner ear.
o Inner ear
Contains the cochlea. The cochlea has tiny hairs called
cilia inside of it that are attached to nerves. When the
cilia receive vibrations, they send electrical messages to
the brain, using the auditory nerve, which tells us that
we have heard a sound.
*Students have a labeled diagram of the ear in their worksheet booklet
that they should review*
Listening to loud and harmful sounds for a long time can temporarily
or permanently damage our hearing. Sounds that measure above 85
decibels will cause harm to the ear. When our hearing is damaged, it
is called hearing loss. People that completely lose their hearing are
deaf.
It is important to look after our ears so that we dont damage them.
Wearing earplugs around loud sounds, staying away from loud
sounds, and not putting anything in our ears are some ways to
prevent hearing damage or loss.
Some examples of some harmful sounds are:
o Firecrackers
o Rocket launch
Some examples of some non-harmful sounds are:
o Doorbell
o Phone ringing
Sounds can be pleasant (sounds that we like to
hear) or unpleasant (sounds that we dont like
to hear). These sounds can be different
depending on the person, but some examples
of each are listed below.
Some unpleasant sounds are:
o Loud concert
o Snoring
Some pleasant sounds are:
o Laughing
o Piano playing
There are many different ways to produce sound. By changing the
materials or way of making the sound (for example: how you are
blowing on or plucking a material), the pitch and volume can be
changed.
Think about the instrument that you made in class. What was the
instrument? How did you change the pitch and volume?
 Sound travels through solids the fastest, liquids the next fastest,
and air (gas) the slowest.
Sound is a vibration of particles. When sound waves bump into an
object, they move its particles, making them bump into each other
and pass the sound along.
Soundproofing is used to make sounds quieter. Any material that
has particles that are far apart will soundproof sounds well. Some
examples of materials that we tested and thought were good
soundproofers are bubble wrap and Styrofoam peanuts.
Making a sound louder is called sound amplification. Megaphones
help amplify sound by collecting sound waves, so that the waves all
travel in one direction, making the sound travel farther and be
louder.
Sound waves travel through the air in all directions. The height of a
sound wave is based on the volume of a sound. High waves means
a loud sound. Low waves means a quiet sound. The distance
between the waves is based on the pitch of a sound. When waves
are really far apart from each other, it means it is a low pitched
sound. When waves are really close together, it means it is a high
pitched sound.

Hearing and sound is very important for communication. People

communicate in many different ways other than talking, such as
sirens, honking horns, social media, and different languages. People
that cannot hear use sign language to communicate.
Some animals, like dogs, are able to hear higher and lower pitched
sounds than humans can.
Echolocation is when an animal creates a very high-pitched sound
that bounces off objects all around and makes an echo. Animals
such as whales, dolphins, and bats use echolocation to find their
food and location.