Theory of Sound (Architecture)

Unit -2
Introduction and theory of sound
Acoustics definitions, terms related to acoustics.

Theory of sound : generation, propagation, transmission, reception of
sound, sound waves, frequency, intensity, wavelength, sound pressure,
measurement of sound,, scales- decibel scale
Characteristics of speech
Music and hearing
Distribution of energy in speech
Music frequencies
Intelligibility of speech, high fidelity reproduction of music
Human ear characteristics- making of sound
Binomial hearingg
Behavior of sound in enclosed spaces.
STUDYOFSOUND ACOUSTICS
HANDLEDBYG.YOGAPRIYA
INTRODUCTION
AND THEORY OF
SOUND
DEFINITIONS
What is Acoustics ?
Acoustics is defined as the

science that deals with the
production
production, control
control,
transmission, reception, and
effects of sound.
The physical principles of

this science are utilized in
architecture to attain
distinct hearing conditions
in enclosed spaces.
p
The study of acoustics helps
to
To appreciate and analyse

the problems involved in
the propagation of sound
in these enclosures.
To suggest ways and

means of producing
optimum conditions of
hearing
To obtain both subjective

and objective
j assessments
of the results achieved.
DEFINITIONS
What is resonance ?
resounding or reechoing
iincreasing
i the
th intensity
i t it off sounds
d by
b sympathetic
th ti
vibration
Eg) Put two tuning forks of equal

frequencies side by side, but not
touching.
g Strike one tuning g fork so that
you can hear its tone, and then suddenly
silence it. You can still hear a faint tone.
This is because the second tuning g fork
has started vibrating sympathetically.
DEFINITIONS
What is Reverberation?
It 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.
DEFINITIONS
What is Reverberation time?
Standard reverberation time has been
defined as the time for the sound to die
a a to a level
away le el 60 decibels below
belo its
original level. The reverberation time can
be modeled to permit an approximate
calculation.
DEFINITIONS
The reverberant sound in an auditorium dies away y
with time as the sound energy is absorbed by
multiple interactions with the surfaces of the room.
g for the
In a more reflective room, it will take longer
sound to die away and the room is said to be 'live'.
In a very absorbent room,

room the sound will die away
quickly and the room will be described as acoustically
'dead'. But the time for reverberation to completely
die away will depend upon how loud the sound was
to begin with, and will also depend upon the acuity
of the hearing of the observer
What is echo? DEFINITIONS
In audio signal
processing and acoustics,
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
well, by a
building, or by the walls of
an enclosed room. A true
g reflection
echo is a single
of the sound source.
SOUND
1. A sound is a vibration in an
elastic medium, which may y be
a solid, liquid, or gas, which
can be registered by the ear.
2. It can be pleasant or
unpleasant, loud or soft, high
or low.
l Sound
S d is
i made
d bby
vibrations, something moving
back and forth. Stretch a
rubber band tightly between
your fingers, and pluck it. You
can see it quiver and hear the
sound it makes.
CHARACTERISTICS OF SOUND WAVES
Sounds are generally audible to
the human ear if their frequency
(number of vibrations per second)
li between
lies b t 20 andd 20,000
20 000
vibrations per second, but the
range varies considerably with the
individual.
The range of audible sound is also differentiated into 3
main categories. Subsonic or low frequency sound is
defined in the range of 20Hz to about 500Hz.
Midrangeg frequencies
q inhabit the realm of 500Hz to
6KHz (6000Hz)
With high frequency sound defined in the remaining
6KHz to 20KHz.
20KHz
Those with frequencies above the audible
range are called ultrasonic.
A sound wave is usually represented
graphically by a wavy, horizontal line; the
upper part off the
h wave (the
( h crest)) indicates
i di a
condensation and the lower part (the
trough) indicates a rarefaction.
GENERATIONOFSOUNDWAVES
GENERATION OF SOUND WAVES
Sound waves are generated by any

vibrating body. For example, when a
violin
i li string
i vibrates
ib upon being
b i
bowed or plucked, its movement in
one direction pushes the molecules of
the air before it, it crowding them
together in its path.
When it moves back again past its original position and on to the
other side, it leaves behind it a nearly empty space, i.e., a space with
relatively few molecules in it.
it In the meantime,
meantime however,
however the molecules
which were at first crowded together have transmitted some of their
energy of motion to other molecules still farther on and are returning
g
to fill again the space
p originally
g y occupied
p and now left empty
p y by
y the
retreating violin string.
In other words, the vibratory motion set up by
th violin
the i li string
ti causes alternately
lt t l in
i a given
i
space a crowding together of the molecules of
air (a condensation) and a thinning out of the
molecules (a rarefaction).
Taken together a condensation and a
rarefaction make up a sound wave; such a
wave is called longitudinal, or
compressional
compressional, because the vibratory
motion is forward and backward along the
direction that the wave is following.
Because such a wave travels by disturbing

the particles of a material medium, sound
waves cannot travel through a vacuum.
THE PROPAGATION OF SOUND
1. Sound is propagated in air,

much like blowing up a large
balloon which expands equally
balloon,
in all directions. For sound to
be g
generated and heard it must
have a source, a medium
through which to pass and a
receiver.
2 Propagation means "movement

2. movement
through Sound will propagate
through air and water.
All media have three properties which affect the
behavior of sound propagation:
A relationship between density and pressure.

This relationship, affected by temperature,
determines
i the speed off sound within
i i the
medium.
The motion of the medium itself, e.g., wind.

Independent of the motion of sound through the
medium if the medium is moving,
medium, moving the sound is
further transported.
The
Th viscosity
i i off the
h medium.
di This
Thi determines
d i
the rate at which sound is attenuated. For many
media, such as air or water, attenuation due to
viscosity is negligible.
TRANSMISSION OF SOUND
TRANSMISSION OF SOUND
There are three requirements for

sound to "occur" in an environment:
(1) A vibrating source to initiate

sound,
sound
(2) A medium to transmit sound
vibrations throughout the
environment and
(3) A receiver to hear or record sound
vibrations.
Sound is initiated in an environment
by a vibrating source.
Water is a more efficient transmitter of sound compared to
air as sound travels faster and further in water.
The movement of the gas or liquid medium is identical to

surface waves found on any large body of water.
water
The wavelengths of speech are of the size of ordinary

objects, unlike light, whose wavelengths are extremely small
.Because of this, sound does not ordinarily cast "acoustic
shadows" but, because its wavelengths are so large, can be
shadows
transmitted around ordinary objects
For example, if a light is shining on a person, and a
book is placed directly between them,
them the person will
no longer be able to see the light (a shadow is cast by
the book on the eyes of the observer).
However, if one person is speaking to another, then

placing
p g a book between them will hardly y affect the
sounds heard at all; the sound waves are able to go
around the book to the observer's ears.
On the other hand, placing a high wall between a

highway and houses can greatly decrease the sounds of
the
h traffic
ffi noises
i if the
h dimensions
di i off the
h wall
ll (height
(h i h
and length) are large compared with the wavelength of
the traffic sounds.
RECEPTION OF SOUND HEARING MECHANISMS - HUMAN EAR
CHARACTERISTICS- MAKING OF SOUND
Th
The ear consists
i t off three
th basic
b i
parts
The outer ear serves to collect and
channel sound to the middle ear.
The middle ear serves to
transform the energy of a sound
wave into the internal vibrations
of the bone structure of the
middle ear and ultimately
transform these vibrations into a
compression wave in the inner
ear.
The inner ear serves to transform
the energy of a compression wave
within the inner ear fluid into
nerve impulses that can be
transmitted to the brain.
Sound waves enter your outer ear and
travel through your ear canal to the
middle ear.
The ear canal channels the waves to
your eardrum, a thin, sensitive membrane
y
stretched tightly over the entrance to your
middle ear. The waves cause your eardrum
to vibrate.
It passes these vibrations on to the
hammer, one of three tiny bones in your Inside the cochlea,
ear. The hammer vibrating causes the there are hundreds of
anvil the small bone touching the
anvil, special cells attached to
hammer, to vibrate. nerve fibers, which can
The anvil passes these vibrations to the transmit information to
stirrup another small bone which touches
stirrup, the brain.
The brain processes
the anvil. From the stirrup, the vibrations
the information from the
pass into the inner ear. ear and lets us
The stirrupp touches a liquid
q filled sack distinguish between
and the vibrations travel into the cochlea, different types of
which is shaped like a shell. sounds.
MonauralandBinauralhearing
Monaural Hearingwithoneear
BinauralHearingwithboththeears.
In open air as well as in enclosures, the hearing is direct and

binaural (i.e.with both the ears). This helps to localize sound and
obtain a correct idea of the sound perspective.
Binaural hearing could be easily compared to binocular vision. Just

as an observer gets an impression of direction and distance or depth
with two eyes, similarly his two ears enable him to appreciate the
direction of sound and to a certain extent, the distance of sound as
well.
It is quite easy to imagine how the two ears enable him to see the
direction of sound which is primarily due to the difference in the
intensity of the two sounds reaching the two ears
ears. It is the depth or
the perspective of sound.
It may be observed that the reflected sound varies much weakened
in intensity as the recede from the speaker
speaker. Consequently the ratio of
direct to the reflected sound varies considerably.
It is for this reason that as we go farther from the speaker the direct
sound is weakened while the reflected or reverberant sound
becomes more and more noticeable. It is this factor which permits
binaural hearing to appreciate distance or depth.
It is not difficult to appreciate how monaural hearing causes loss of

direction. It is common experience to observe that the two ears
enable the person consciously to suppress sounds coming from one
direction and to concentrate on desired sound from a given direction.
Single ear is unable to do this and consequently the noises and the
reverberation present in the room or apparently increased.
Behavior of sound in enclosed places
Behaviorofsoundinenclosedplaces
Behavior of sound in enclosed places
Behaviorofsoundinenclosedplaces
1. Soundisabsorbedinthe 5. Soundisemittedbythe
y
airalsoappreciableto resonanceofthewallin
reflectedsound. bothdirections.
2 Soundinreflectedatthe
2. S di fl t d t th 6 Soundisinterreflected
6. S di i t fl t d
wallsurface. betweenboundingsurface
3. Soundisabsorbedfrom settingatreverberation.
thewallsurfaceorits 7. Resonanceoftheenclosed
surfacefinished. volumeofairbydirectcross
4 Soundisconductedbythe
4. S di d db h reflection
reflection.
walltootherpartofthe
surface.
CHARACTERISTICS OF SPEECH
Any audible sound has three important

characteristics
1. Frequency(Pitch)
2 Loudness
2.
3. Tonal quality
DEFINITIONS
What is Frequency?
q y
The number of cycles per unit of time is called the frequency. For
convenience, frequency is most often measured in cycles per
second
d (cps)
( ) or the
th interchangeable
i t h bl Hertz
H t (Hz)
(H ) (60 cps = 60 Hz),
H)
named after the 19th physicist.
Characteristicsofspeech
Frequency(Pitch)
It is independent of intensity of loudness of sound.
Pitch is a psychological phenomenon determined by
frequency of a sound wave whereas frequency is a
physical quantity and can be measured .
Sound is called a pure tone when it consists a single
frequency and when two or more frequencies are
present it is called a complex tone.
Puretone complextone
Characteristics of speech
Characteristicsofspeech
Loudness:
Loudnessisaphysiologicaleffectofsensationproduced
throughtheearanddependsontheintensityofsound
or amount of energy present in sound waves while
oramountofenergypresentinsoundwaveswhile
enteringit.
Inoat,Loudnessfallsdownasdistanceincreases
Loudness is inversely proportional the the square of the
distance from source (Not applicable for semi closed
enclosures)
Tonalqualityortimbre
Timbre is a general term for the distinguishable

characteristics of a tone. Timbre is mainly determined
by the harmonic content of a sound.
timbre is what makes a particular musical sound

different from another, even when they have the
same pitch and loudness.
DEFINITIONS
What is wavelength?
g
The wavelength of sound is the
distance between analogous
points of two successive waves.
p
=c/f
where
= wavelength(m)
c=speedofsound(m/s)
f=frequency
SoundIntensity.
Thesoundintensityinaspecifieddirectionisthe
DEFINITIONS
amountofsoundenergyflowingthroughaunit
areanormaltothatdirection.Thesoundintensity
is normally measured in watt per square metre
isnormallymeasuredinwattpersquaremetre
(W/m2).
Thescaleformeasuringintensityisthe decibel
scale.
DEFINITIONS
Soundpressure
p
Soundpressureoracousticpressureis
thelocalpressuredeviationfromtheambient
(average or equilibrium) atmospheric pressure
(average,orequilibrium)atmosphericpressure
causedbyasoundwave.
Sound pressure can be measured using
Soundpressurecanbemeasuredusing
amicrophoneinairandahydrophoneinwater.
TheSIunitforsoundpressurep isthePascal.
HIGHFIDELITYREPRODUCTIONOFMUSIC
Highfidelityor hifireproductionisaterm
usedbyhomestereolistenersand
db h li d home
h
audio enthusiasts(audiophiles)torefertohigh
quality
li reproductionofsound
d i f d [ or images,to
i
distinguishitfromthepoorerqualitysound
producedbyinexpensiveaudioequipment.
d db i i di i
Ideally,highfidelityequipmenthasminimal
Id ll hi h fid li i h i i l
amountsof noise and distortion andan
accurate
t frequencyresponse.
f
Frequency Ranges
FrequencyRanges
THRESHOLD OF AUDIBILITY
The threshold of audibility at any specified frequency is
the minimum value of sound pressure of a pure tone of
that frequency which is just audible The term is used for
complex waves such as speech and music . It is
cm ( dynes cgsforce)
measures in dynes per sq cm.
THRESHOLD OF FEELING
Sound pressure that can cause discomfort and pain. It is
situated around 120 dB above the threshold of hearing. It is
measures in dynes per sq cm and also in watts per sq cm.
PHON
A unit of apparent loudness,
loudness equal in number to the
intensity in decibels of a 1,000hertz tone perceived to
be as loud as the sound being measured.
EFFECT OF REVEBRATION ON HEARING

The hangg over effect of one syllable
y on the next
distorts the speech by blending the end of the first
with the beginning of the second so as to mask the
secondd syllable
ll bl completely.
l t l Th
The reverberation
b ti
characteristics may give an effect of frequency
distortion because of reverberation time being
different for various frequencies. The effect of both will
depend upon position of the observer .

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Unit -2

Introduction and theory of sound

Acoustics definitions, terms related to acoustics.

Acoustics is defined as the

The physical principles of

To appreciate and analyse

To suggest ways and

To obtain both subjective

Eg) Put two tuning forks of equal

A reverberation, or reverb, is created

This is most noticeable when the sound

In a very absorbent room,

Typical examples are the

GENERATION OF SOUND WAVES

Sound waves are generated by any

Because such a wave travels by disturbing

1. Sound is propagated in air,

2 Propagation means "movement

A relationship between density and pressure.

The motion of the medium itself, e.g., wind.

There are three requirements for

(1) A vibrating source to initiate

The movement of the gas or liquid medium is identical to

The wavelengths of speech are of the size of ordinary

However, if one person is speaking to another, then

On the other hand, placing a high wall between a

In open air as well as in enclosures, the hearing is direct and

Binaural hearing could be easily compared to binocular vision. Just

It is not difficult to appreciate how monaural hearing causes loss of

Any audible sound has three important

Timbre is a general term for the distinguishable

timbre is what makes a particular musical sound

EFFECT OF REVEBRATION ON HEARING

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