# Sound

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Sound
In a drum sound is produced when its membrane vibrates

Sound is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.[1]

## Propagation of sound

Sound is a sequence of waves of pressure that propagates through compressible media such as air or water. (Sound can propagate through solids as well, but there are additional modes of propagation). During propagation, waves can be reflected, refracted, or attenuated by the medium.[2]

The behavior of sound propagation is generally affected by three things:

• A relationship between density and pressure. This relationship, affected by temperature, determines the speed of sound within the medium.
• The propagation is also affected by the motion of the medium itself. For example, sound moving through wind. Independent of the motion of sound through the medium, if the medium is moving, the sound is further transported.
• The viscosity of the medium also affects the motion of sound waves. It determines the rate at which sound is attenuated. For many media, such as air or water, attenuation due to viscosity is negligible.

When sound is moving through a medium that does not have constant physical properties, it may be refracted (either dispersed or focused).[2]

## Perception of sound

Human ear

The perception of sound in any organism is limited to a certain range of frequencies. For humans, hearing is normally limited to frequencies between about 20 Hz and 20,000 Hz (20 kHz)[3], although these limits are not definite. The upper limit generally decreases with age. Other species have a different range of hearing. For example, dogs can perceive vibrations higher than 20 kHz, but are deaf to anything below 40 Hz. As a signal perceived by one of the major senses, sound is used by many species for detecting danger, navigation, predation, and communication. Earth's atmosphere, water, and virtually any physical phenomenon, such as fire, rain, wind, surf, or earthquake, produces (and is characterized by) its unique sounds. Many species, such as frogs, birds, marine and terrestrial mammals, have also developed special organs to produce sound. In some species, these produce song and speech. Furthermore, humans have developed culture and technology (such as music, telephone and radio) that allows them to generate, record, transmit, and broadcast sound. The scientific study of human sound perception is known as psychoacoustics.

## Physics of sound

The mechanical vibrations that can be interpreted as sound are able to travel through all forms of matter: gases, liquids, solids, and plasmas. The matter that supports the sound is called the medium. Sound cannot travel through a vacuum.

### Longitudinal and transverse waves

Sinusoidal waves of various frequencies; the bottom waves have higher frequencies than those above. The horizontal axis represents time.

Sound is transmitted through gases, plasma, and liquids as longitudinal waves, also called compression waves. Through solids, however, it can be transmitted as both longitudinal waves and transverse waves. Longitudinal sound waves are waves of alternating pressure deviations from the equilibrium pressure, causing local regions of compression and rarefaction, while transverse waves (in solids) are waves of alternating shear stress at right angle to the direction of propagation.

Matter in the medium is periodically displaced by a sound wave, and thus oscillates. The energy carried by the sound wave converts back and forth between the potential energy of the extra compression (in case of longitudinal waves) or lateral displacement strain (in case of transverse waves) of the matter and the kinetic energy of the oscillations of the medium.

### Sound wave properties and characteristics

Sound waves are often simplified to a description in terms of sinusoidal plane waves, which are characterized by these generic properties:

Sometimes speed and direction are combined as a velocity vector; wavenumber and direction are combined as a wave vector.

Transverse waves, also known as shear waves, have the additional property, polarization, and are not a characteristic of sound waves.

### Speed of sound

U.S. Navy F/A-18 breaking the sound barrier. The white halo is formed by condensed water droplets thought to result from a drop in air pressure around the aircraft (see Prandtl-Glauert Singularity).[4][5]

The speed of sound depends on the medium the waves pass through, and is a fundamental property of the material. In general, the speed of sound is proportional to the square root of the ratio of the elastic modulus (stiffness) of the medium to its density. Those physical properties and the speed of sound change with ambient conditions. For example, the speed of sound in gases depends on temperature. In 20 °C (68 °F) air at the sea level, the speed of sound is approximately 343 m/s (1,230 km/h; 767 mph) using the formula "v = (331 + 0.6 T) m/s". In fresh water, also at 20 °C, the speed of sound is approximately 1,482 m/s (5,335 km/h; 3,315 mph). In steel, the speed of sound is about 5,960 m/s (21,460 km/h; 13,330 mph).[6] The speed of sound is also slightly sensitive (a second-order anharmonic effect) to the sound amplitude, which means that there are nonlinear propagation effects, such as the production of harmonics and mixed tones not present in the original sound (see parametric array).

### Acoustics

Acoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of all mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician while someone working in the field of acoustics technology may be called an acoustical or audio engineer. The application of acoustics can be seen in almost all aspects of modern society with the most obvious being the audio and noise control industries.

### Noise

Noise is a term often used to refer to an unwanted sound. In science and engineering, noise is an undesirable component that obscures a wanted signal.

## Sound pressure level

Sound measurements
Sound pressure p, SPL
Particle velocity v, SVL
Particle displacement ξ
Sound intensity I, SIL
Sound power Pac
Sound power level SWL
Sound energy
Sound energy density E
Sound energy flux q
Acoustic impedance Z
Speed of sound c
Audio frequency AF
v · d · e

Sound pressure is the difference, in a given medium, between average local pressure and the pressure in the sound wave. A square of this difference (i.e., a square of the deviation from the equilibrium pressure) is usually averaged over time and/or space, and a square root of this average provides a root mean square (RMS) value. For example, 1 Pa RMS sound pressure (94 dBSPL) in atmospheric air implies that the actual pressure in the sound wave oscillates between (1 atm $-\sqrt{2}$ Pa) and (1 atm $+\sqrt{2}$ Pa), that is between 101323.6 and 101326.4 Pa. Such a tiny (relative to atmospheric) variation in air pressure at an audio frequency is perceived as a deafening sound, and can cause hearing damage, according to the table below.

As the human ear can detect sounds with a wide range of amplitudes, sound pressure is often measured as a level on a logarithmic decibel scale. The sound pressure level (SPL) or Lp is defined as

$L_\mathrm{p}=10\, \log_{10}\left(\frac{{p}^2}{{p_\mathrm{ref}}^2}\right) =20\, \log_{10}\left(\frac{p}{p_\mathrm{ref}}\right)\mbox{ dB}\,$
where p is the root-mean-square sound pressure and pref is a reference sound pressure. Commonly used reference sound pressures, defined in the standard ANSI S1.1-1994, are 20 µPa in air and 1 µPa in water. Without a specified reference sound pressure, a value expressed in decibels cannot represent a sound pressure level.

Since the human ear does not have a flat spectral response, sound pressures are often frequency weighted so that the measured level matches perceived levels more closely. The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) has defined several weighting schemes. A-weighting attempts to match the response of the human ear to noise and A-weighted sound pressure levels are labeled dBA. C-weighting is used to measure peak levels.

## Equipment for dealing with sound

Equipment for generating or using sound includes musical instruments, hearing aids, sonar systems and sound reproduction and broadcasting equipment. Many of these use electro-acoustic transducers such as microphones and loudspeakers.

## References

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Synonyms:

### Look at other dictionaries:

• sound — sound1 [sound] n. [< ME soun (+ unhistoric d) < OFr son < L sonus < IE * swonos, a sound, noise < base * swen , to sound > OE swinsian, to sing, make music] 1. a) vibrations in air, water, etc. that stimulate the auditory nerves …   English World dictionary

• Sound — Sound, a. [Compar. {Sounder}; superl. {Soundest}.] [OE. sound, AS. sund; akin to D. gezond, G. gesund, OHG. gisunt, Dan. & Sw. sund, and perhaps to L. sanus. Cf. {Sane}.] 1. Whole; unbroken; unharmed; free from flaw, defect, or decay; perfect of… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

• Sound — Sound, n. [OE. soun, OF. son, sun, F. son, fr. L. sonus akin to Skr. svana sound, svan to sound, and perh. to E. swan. Cf. {Assonant}, {Consonant}, {Person}, {Sonata}, {Sonnet}, {Sonorous}, {Swan}.] 1. The peceived object occasioned by the… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

• sound — 1 adj 1 a: free from injury or disease: exhibiting normal health b: free from flaw, defect, or decay a sound design 2 a: free from error, fallacy, or misapprehension based on sound judicial reasoning b: legally valid …   Law dictionary

• Sound — Sound, v. t. 1. To cause to make a noise; to play on; as, to sound a trumpet or a horn; to sound an alarm. [1913 Webster] A bagpipe well could he play and soun[d]. Chaucer. [1913 Webster] 2. To cause to exit as a sound; as, to sound a note with… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

• Sound — Sound, v. i. [OE. sounen, sownen, OF. soner, suner, F. sonner, from L. sonare. See {Sound} a noise.] 1. To make a noise; to utter a voice; to make an impulse of the air that shall strike the organs of hearing with a perceptible effect. And first… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

• sound# — sound adj 1 *healthy, wholesome, robust, hale, well Analogous words: *vigorous, lusty, nervous, energetic, strenuous: *strong, sturdy, stalwart, stout: intact, whole, entire, *perfect 2 *valid, cogent, convincing, compelling, telling …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

• sound — Ⅰ. sound [1] ► NOUN 1) vibrations which travel through the air or another medium and are sensed by the ear. 2) a thing that can be heard. 3) music, speech, and sound effects accompanying a film or broadcast. 4) an idea or impression conveyed by… …   English terms dictionary

• Sound of… — ist der Name einer alljährlichen Prognose des britischen Senders BBC, welche neuen Musiker im folgenden Jahr den Durchbruch schaffen werden. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Hintergrund 2 Bisherige Prognosen 2.1 Top 10 von 2003 bis 2009 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

• Sound-G — Album par Brown Eyed Girls Sortie 21 juillet 2009 Durée 43:39 (CD1) 32:58 (CD2) …   Wikipédia en Français

• Sound — Sound, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Sounded}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Sounding}.] [F. sonder; cf. AS. sundgyrd a sounding rod, sundline a sounding line (see {Sound} a narrow passage of water).] 1. To measure the depth of; to fathom; especially, to ascertain the …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English