From the air to the iPod

What is Sound?
Minute disturbances in the air, caused by a vibrating object Air molecules bunch together, then spread out Changes in density (air pressure, or sound pressure) Causes a chain reaction; sound pressure wave propagates

Sound Wave Propagation

Compression / Rarefaction
Sound Pressure

High Normal Low

Time

Time domain plot of a waveform

Periodic Waveforms
Amplitude

1 Cycle Period: How long does one cycle last? Frequency: How many cycles per second? Expressed in Hertz (Hz) Ex: 440 Hz (the A above middle C) Period = 1 / Frequency (for A440: 0.0023 sec.)

Frequency and Pitch

Frequency is an acoustic fact. Pitch is a human perception. Our sense of pitch has a logarithmic relation to frequency its based on ratios. Our ear is like a microphone. It changes the physical wave (acoustic energy) into an electrical signal. Range of human hearing 20Hz to 20,000 Hz (20 kHz), approximately (for young folks; old folks cant hear as high)

The Harmonic Series

Arithmetic series of frequencies gives ever-shrinking intervals.

(flat) Frequencies in Hz:

Double frequency: octave higher

Analog Representations of Sound

Magnified phonograph grooves, viewed from above:

When viewed from the side, channel 1 goes up and down, and channel 2 goes side to side.

Analog versus Digital Analog

Continuous signal that mimics shape of acoustic sound pressure wave

Digital
Stream of discrete numbers that represent instantaneous amplitudes of analog signal, measured at equally spaced points in time.

Analog to Digital Recording Chain

ADC
Microphone converts acoustic to electrical energy. Its a transducer. Continuously varying electrical energy is an analog of the sound pressure wave. ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) converts analog to digital electrical signal. Digital signal transmits binary numbers. DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) converts digital signal in computer to analog for your headphones.

Analog to Digital Conversion

Instantaneous amplitudes of continuous analog signal, measured at equally spaced points in time.

A series of snapshots

Analog to Digital Overview Sampling Rate

How often analog signal is measured [samples per second, Hz] Example: 44,100 Hz

Sampling Resolution
[a.k.a. sample word length, bit depth] Precision of numbers used for measurement: the more bits, the higher the resolution. Example: 16 bit

Sampling Rate
Determines the highest frequency that you can represent with a digital signal. Nyquist Theorem: Sampling rate must be at least twice as high as the highest frequency you want to represent.

Capturing just the crest and trough of a sine wave will represent the wave exactly.

Aliasing
What happens if sampling rate not high enough?
A high frequency signal sampled at too low a rate looks like a lower frequency signal.

Thats called aliasing.

Common Sampling Rates

Which rates can represent the range of frequencies audible by (fresh) ears? Sampling Rate 44.1 kHz (44100) 48 kHz (48000) 96 kHz (96000) 22.05 kHz (22050) Uses CD, DAT DAT, DV, DVD-Video DVD-Audio Old samplers

Most software can handle all these rates.

3-bit Quantization
A 3-bit binary (base 2) number has 23 = 8 values.
7 6 Amplitude 5 4 3 2 1 0 Time measure amp. at each tick of sample clock

A rough approximation

4-bit Quantization
A 4-bit binary number has 24 = 16 values.
14 12 Amplitude 10 8 6 4 2 0 Time measure amp. at each tick of sample clock

A better approximation

16-bit Sample Word Length

A 16-bit integer can represent 216, or 65,536, values (amplitude points). We typically use signed 16-bit integers, and center the 65,536 values around 0.
32,767 0 -32,768

Quantization Noise
Round-off error: difference between actual signal and quantization to integer values

Random errors: sounds like low-amplitude noise

Common Sampling Resolutions

Word length 8-bit integer 16-bit integer 24-bit integer Uses Low-res web audio CD, DAT, DV, sound files DVD-Video, DVD-Audio

32-bit floating point Software (usually only for internal representation)

The Digital Audio Stream

Its just a series of sample numbers, to be interpreted as instantaneous amplitudes: one for every tick of the sample clock. Previous example:
11 13 15 13 10 9 6 1 4 9 15 11 13 9

This is what appears in a sound file, along with a header that indicates the sampling rate, bit depth and other things.

Audio File Size

CD characteristics
- Sampling rate: 44,100 samples per second (44.1 kHz) - Sample word length: 16 bits (i.e., 2 bytes) per sample - Number of channels: 2 (stereo)

How big is a 5-minute CD-quality sound file?

Audio File Size

How big is a 5-minute CD-quality sound file?
44,100 samples * 2 bytes per sample * 2 channels = 176,400 bytes per second 5 minutes * 60 seconds per minute = 300 seconds 300 seconds * 176,400 bytes per second = 52,920,000 bytes = c. 50.5 megabytes (MB)

MPEG Compression
MPEG 1-Layer 3 (.mp3)
Motion Picture Experts Group Different levels for different purposes
E.g. MPEG 2 used for DVDs

Takes out parts of the sound signal that

humans cant hear How does the size change?

Lossy compression

MPEG Compression

What is an iPod?
Its a computer! Look at the von Neumann architecture I/O
Memory 32MB RAM, 32MB ROM CPU Special digital to analog converter chips

2-4GB microdrive, click wheel, LCD panel, USB connection, FireWire connection, audio output

Well-designed UI Stores music in various digital formats AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 (32 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible, AIFF, Apple

iPod Specifications

CPU: ARM7TDMI Playtime: up to 8 hours Scroll wheel: solid state touch Buttons: mechanical CPU Speed: dual 80 Mhz embedded Data Path: 32 bit ROM: 32 MB Onboard RAM: 32 MB Screen: 1.67" LCD w/ LED backlight

Maximum Resolution: 1-bit 138x110 Hard Disk: 1" 4 GB 4200 RPM holds 1000 songs. USB: via Dock Connector FireWire: via Dock Connector Audio Out: stereo 16 bit mini Weight: 0.225 lbs. Dimensions: 3.6" H x 2.0" W x 0.5" D OS: iPod OS 1.1 Introduced: January 2004