BUILDING UTILITIES 3

SOUND THEORY
WEEK 2

RECAP
ACOUSTICS
- is a branch of science that deals with the control and propagation of
sound.

Objectives of acoustics
to reinforce needed sound
to eliminate unwanted sound
to prevent unwanted sound to be transmitted into an enclosed space

Its all about sound

SOUND THEORY

What is a

Sound?

something we hear as a result of vibration of air,

and is created by compressed and expanded air
pressure fluctuations.

SOUND THEORY
What is a

Sound?

originates from a vibrating body. It is pressure have in

an elastic medium. It is not restricted, it spreads
outward from its source in all directions diminishing in
intensity inversely as the square of the distance from
the source increases

SOUND THEORY
Sound is everywhere!
There are:
Airborne sounds: The medium is Air
Structure-borne sounds: The medium is Concrete, steel,
wood, glass and combinations of all these

SOUND THEORY

It is always assumed that the hearer has a pair of

healthy young ears with the direction range of 20 to
20,000 Hz

PROPERTIES OF SOUND
speed of velocity
1125 ft/sec at 20F, the
velocity increases 1ft/sec
for every 10 rise in
temperature (in
Fahrenheit)

where:
v = velocity
F = frequency
d = distance of the
medium through
which the sound
travels

PROPERTIES OF SOUND
frequency

is the number of cycles of vibrations executed

per second. Humans can hear sounds within the
40 vps to 16,000 vps range

PROPERTIES OF SOUND
frequency

Depending on size of sound waves, the repeatedly cycle over

a period is different. Low frequency sound is characterized
by long sound waves, and contain much energy, while high
frequency sound is characterized by short waves,and contain
low energy.

PROPERTIES OF SOUND
molecular absorption
- a sound maybe covered up or absorbed by another
sound. This phenomena is called masking of sound
and this is very useful in acoustics
- the sound masking is usually of lower frequency than
the sound it masks

PROPERTIES OF SOUND

soporific effect
- that effect brought about by a low-steady sound

PROPERTIES OF SOUND
WAVE LENGHT
distance between two crests of a sound
wave
- low frequency sounds have longer
wavelengths than high frequency
sounds. The wavelength is also the
distance traveled by sound in one second
divided by the frequency of the wave
- example:
the wavelength of a 100 cycle wave is a
little of eleven feet long and a five
hundred cycle wave

WL = distance
traveled by sound
wave in one second /
the frequency of the
wave

SOUND THEORY
BEHAVIOR OF SOUND IN A ROOM
When a sound wave in a room strikes a surface in a
room, part of the energy is reflected, part is
absorbed by the surface and part is transmitted
to the surface

SOUND THEORY
REFLECTION OF SOUND ON A SURFACE
A surface that is rigid, flat and smooth usually
reflects sound. The reflection of sound on a surface
follows the behavior of reflected light, meaning that
the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of
reflection

SOUND THEORY
REFLECTION OF SOUND ON A
SURFACE
A surface that is rigid, flat and
smooth usually reflects sound.
The reflection of sound on a
surface follows the behavior of
reflected light, meaning that the
angle of incidence is equal to
the angle of reflection

SOUND THEORY
Geometry of reflected
sound
One characteristic of sound is
that, like light, it can bend
around an obstruction known
as diffraction of sound.
Low frequency sounds are
diffracted more easily than
high frequency sounds

SOUND THEORY
When the wavelength of a sound
is just the same as one of the
rooms dimensions, a standing
wave is created. When a sound
comes from a source
direct or original sound
- from the source and directly
delivered to the hearer
reflected sound
- from all directions of the room

SOUND THEORY
for a sound to be heard by a
listener comfortably, the
reflected sound must come to
him not later than 0.05 of a
second or in terms of
distance, the direct sound and
the path of the reflected sound
should not exceed 57 ft.

SOUND PROPAGATION VELOCITY IN

VARIOUS MEDIA
medium
Air
Water
Wood
Brick
Concrete
Steel
Glass
Aluminum

VELOCITY
meter per
second
344
1410
3300
3600
3700
4900
5000
5800
At 22C

feet per second

1130
4625
10,825
11,800
12,100
16,000
16,400
19,000
At 72F

SPEED OF SOUND
As sound travels much slower than the speed of light,
the resulting defects in many rooms are echoes and
reverberations
When the reflected sound, which reaches an
observer, is delayed more than about 0.058 seconds
relative to the direct sounds, they are distinguished
as echoes. Reverberation consist of successive
reflections of sounds in a room, and since sound
travels only about 1130 ft or 344 m/sec,

RESONANCE
Is what happens to a body
when another vibrating
body vibrates and
initiates. The other body
to vibrate in harmony with
it
Resonance can be useful
to reinforce sounds at
some specific frequencies

RESONANCE
This happens only
however, if the resonating
body or resonator has a
dimension which is a
multiple of the
wavelength of the sound
wave from the originating
body

RESONANCE
Low frequencies have
more resonance than the
high frequencies because
low frequencies have
longer wavelengths and
therefore more multipliers
to the dimensions of the
room than high
frequencies

RESONANCE

Yet, there are sounds that

require less resonance to
give presence to the
sounds