Sounds and Acoustics

Sound something that can be heard.

- Vibrations traveling through air, water, or some other medium, especially those within
the range of frequencies that can be perceived by the human ear.
- The sensation produced in the ear by vibration traveling through air, water, or some
other medium.
- Is longitudinal wave motion that can be perceived by the auditory nerve. It consists of a
series of condensation and can be transmitted by any type of elastic matter but not by
vacuum.
Acoustics the scientific study of sound
- the characteristic way in which sound carries or can be heard within a particular
enclosed space, for example; an auditorium.
Speed of sound in air at 0
0
C is 331 m/s, and increases approximately 0.6 m/s for each 1K rise in
temperature. The speed is dependent of changes in barometric pressure, frequency, and
wavelength.
The effect of temperature of the speed of sound in a gas is expressed more accurately by the
equation:
2
1
2
1
T
T
v
v
=
Where v
1
and v
2
are the speeds at thermodynamic temperatures T
1
and T
2
.

Beats the pulsation of maximum and minimum disturbance produced by the superposition of two
sound waves of slightly different frequencies are called beats. The number of beats per second is
equal to the deference between the frequencies of the two sound waves which are combined.
Musical interval when two notes have frequencies which are in the ratio of 2:1, the two notes are
said to differ by an octave, 3:2 interval is called fifth.
Interval the distance between two musical pitches.
Harmonics refers to a series of frequencies which have whole number ratios. If f is the lowest
frequency of the series, called the first harmonic, then the other harmonics have frequencies 2f, 3f,
4f, etc.
Overtones the lowest frequency which a vibrating string, air column, or other vibrating body
emits is called the fundamental frequency. The next higher frequency the vibrating body can emit
is the first overtone, the next higher frequency is the second overtone, etc.
Stationary or standing waves a standing wave maybe set up in a vibrating body such as an air
column, string or rod. Two waves of equal frequencies and amplitudes traveling in opposite
direction in a medium produce a standing wave.
Displacement node is a point on a standing wave where the displacement of the particle is zero at
all times.
Displacement anti node is a point on the standing wave where the amplitude of vibration is
greatest. Te distance between two adjacent nodes or between two adjacent anti node is a half
wavelength.
Vibrating strings a stretched string produces its fundamental tone or 1
st
harmonic, when it
vibrates as a whole with an anti node at its center and a node at its ends. Since the distance
between two adjacent nodes is half wavelength, the wavelength of its fundamental mode of
vibration is twice its length, or 2l

F
l l
F
v
f
l fundamenta
2
1
2
= = =
Overtones are produce when the string vibrates in segments. If f is the frequency of the
fundamental tone, the frequencies of the first and second overtones are 2f and 3f respectively.
Vibrating air column an open end of a rube is an antinode, and a closed end is a node.
Closed tube the wavelength of the fundamental tone or 1
st
harmonic produced by a tube
closed at one end is 4 times the length of the tube. If f is the frequency of the fundamental, the
frequencies of the overtones or upper harmonics are 3f, 5f, 7f, etc. only odd harmonics are
possible.
Open tube the wavelength of the fundamental tone produced by a tube open at both ends
is 2 times the length of the tube. If f is the fundamental frequency, the frequencies of the overtones
are 2f, 3f, 4f, etc. all harmonics are possible.

Resonance acoustic resonsnce exist when a body is caused to vibrate by a sound waves having
the same frequency as its natural frequency of vibration.

Longitudinal wave wave propagated in direction particles vibrate. For example, a sound wave
that is propagated in the same direction in which the particles of the medium vibrate.
Transverse wave the vibration of particles of the medium are perpendicular to the direction of
motion of the wave energy.
Period period of a vibrating particles is the time required for one vibration.
Frequency the number of vibrations made per second.
Wavelength the shortest distance between two vibrating particles which are in phase.
Amplitude the maximum displacement of the vibrating particle from its undisturbed position.
Speed of longitudinal wave:
In liquid:
liquid of density
ulus bulk K
v

= =
mod

In solid:
solid of density
ulus s Yoiung E
v

= =
mod '

In gas:
gas of density
gas of pressure
v


= =
) (

o

where: = 1.4 for air and most gases

Speed of transverse wave:

length unit per mass
string in tension F
v


= =

Doppler effect when a source of sound waves and an observer are approaching each other, the
observed pitch of the sound is increased; while if they are receding from each other, the observed
pitch of sound depends essentially on the number of waves reaching the ear per second.
When source moves:
v V
f V
f

= '
When observer moves:
V
v V f
f
) (
'
+

Where: f true frequency of sounding body
f observed frequency
V speed of sound
v speed of moving body, value in both formula is positive for velocity of approach,
negative for velocity of recession.

Pitch the level of a sound in the scale, defined by its frequency.
Intensity intensity of sound wave is the amount of wave energy transmitted per unit time per unit
area perpendicular to the direction of propagation. The intensoity I of a sound of frequency f and
amplitude is:

I = 2
2
f
2
r
2
vp , W/m
2


where: v speed of sound, p density of undisturbed medium.
Loudness is a subjective physiological sensation which increases with the intensity of the sound.
The sensation of loudness is only roughly proportional to the common logarithm of the intensity of
the sound (log to the base 10 are used).
Intensity level the intensity level, expressed in dB, of a sound of intensity I
1
with reference to a
sound of intensity I
2
is:
Intensity level of I
1
in dB = 10 log (I
1
/I
2
)

Problems:
1. A longitudinal wave of frequency 100 Hz has a wavelength of 11m. find the speed of
propagation. (ans. 1100 m/s)
2. What is the pitch or frequency of the tone made by a siren having a disk with 15 holes and
making 20 rev. per second? (ans. 300 Hz)
3. The speed of sound in water is 1450 m/s. compute the bulk modulus K of water. (ans.
2.1x10
9
Pa)
4. Calculate the speed of sound in air at S.T.P. (standard temp. and pressure = 1.013 x10
5

Pa). Density of air at S.T.P. = 1.293 kg/m
3
, = 1.40. (ans. 331 m/s)
5. A tuning fork has a frequency 284 Hz in air. Compute the wavelength of the tone emitted at
25
0
C. (ans. 1.22 m)
6. A metal string of a mass 0.50 g and a length of 50 cm is under a tension of 88.2 N. a)
compute the speed of a transverse wave in the string. b) determine the frequencies of its
fundamental tone, 1
st
and 2
nd
overtones. (ans. 297m/s, 297 and 891 Hz.)
7. A string of length 80 cm and mass 0.2 g is attached to one end of a tuning fork with a
frequency of 250 Hz. What tension applied to the string will cause it to vibrate in a 4
segment? (ans. 2.5 N)
8. A rod 200 cm long is clamped 50 cm fro one end and set into longitudinal vibration. The
lowest frequency produced by the rod is 3000 Hz. What is the speed of sound in the rod?
(ans. 600 m/s)
There must be a node at the clamped point, anti node at each free end. The mode of vibration with fewest nodes which
satisfies this conditions is shown in the figure.



9. a) How many beats per second are heard when two tuning forks, of frequencies 200 Hz and
205 Hz respectively are sounded together? B) What is the frequency of a fork which makes
4 beats per second with a standard fork of 300 Hz?
10. Determine the shortest length of a closed and of an open piped that will resonate an air at 0
0

C with a fork of frequency 159 Hz. (ans. 52 and 104 cm.)
11. Determine the pitch or frequency of the fundamental, and also of the first two overtones of
a) closed piped, b) open piped. Each pipe is 67 cm long. Air temperature is 20
0
C. (ans.
128, 384, 640, 256, 512, 768)
12. A tuning fork of frequency 400 Hz is moved away from an observer and towards a flat wall
with a speed of 2 m/s. what is the apparent frequency of a) the unreflected sound waves
coming directly to the observer, and b) of the sound waves coming to the observer after
reflection? c) what beat frequency id heard? (assume the speed of sound in air is to be 335 m/s)
13. Compute the intensity of a sound wave in air at STP if its frequency is 800 Hz and its
amplitude 0.001 cm. density of air at STP = 1.293 kg/m
3
. (ans. 54 W/cm
2
)
14. Two sound waves have intensities of 10 and 500 W/cm
2
respectively. How many decibels
is the louder sound above the other? (ans. 17 dB)
15. Find the ratio of the intensities of two sounds if one is 8 dB louder than the other. (ans. 6.3)

ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS
- is the science which deals with the acoustical design of architectural structures, and the
qualities of an audience room with respect to the clear transmission of sound to all parts
of it are referred to as the acoustics of the room.
- Factors that affect the acoustical properties of audience rooms, particularly speech
rooms can be determined quantitatively by ; a) size, b) shape, c) absorptiveness of
interior surfaces, d) noise , e) loudness of sound source.
Reverberation is the persistence of sound in a room or other enclosure due to repeated reflections
after the source has ceased to emit sound. When excessive, it interferes seriously with hearing, but
when properly controlled may be made to serve as an aid to hearing.
Time of reverberation the standard of measure used to deal with reverberation in a quantitative
manner. The time of reverberation in a room is the time required for a specified sound to decrease
in intensity to one millionth of its initial intensity level to fall 60 dB. The time of reverberation is
at least an approximate measure of the duration of audibility of average sound in a room.

Example:
56 ft distance between walls of a room for direct path of sound
1120 ft/sec. velocity of sound at room temperature
5% - sound lost at each encounter with a wall due to wall absorption.
200 150 100 50 0
95% - sound reflected at each encounter with wall
0.95 is the intensity of sound from its initial intensity after the first reflection
0.95 x0.95 = 0.95
2
after two reflections
0.95 x 0.95 x 0.95 = 0.95
3
after three reflections
0.95
n
times the initial intensity after the nth reflection
To reduce to one millionth or 60 dB fall of sound:
0.95
n
= 0.000001; n = 224
1120/56 = 20 times per sec the sound being reflected in this particular room
The time that the sound decays to one millionth to this particular room being considered is;
224/20 = 11.2 sec.
On account of excessive reverberation, hearing in this room is considered very poor. A correction
for reverberation time which results to good hearing in this room is needed by addition if sufficient
absorbing material which increases the absorption at each reflection.
Absorption the ability of a material to absorbed (a)
Standard measure of absorption;
- sabine the unit of total absorption
- represents the absorption coefficient of a wall of surface area S square feet, the total
absorption a of the wall in sabines is:
a = S sabines
- p the total absorption of a body such as person, chair and or any object
- the total absorption a of n chairs, person or abject
a = np sabines
if the room contains a number of different objects and a number of different surfaces having
different absorption coefficients, the total absorption of the room is;
a = S
1

1
+ S
2

2
+ S
3

3
+ etc. + n
1
p
1
+ n
2
p
2
+ n
3
p
3
+ etc. sabines

Reverberation formula:
|
|
.
|

\
|
=

t
V
cS
O
e
e I i
4
) 1 ( log
1
o
equation of growth of sound in a room
t
V
cS
O
e
e I i
4
) 1 ( log o
= equation of decay of sound in a room
Where:
c the velocity of sound
S total interior surface of the room
o - the average absorption coefficient if the room
V volume of the room
I
O
value of the intensity after it has built up to its final steady value
i the intensity in the room at any time t during growth (or decay)

By definition, the time of reverberation is the time for the intensity to decrease from I
O
to I
O
x 10
-6
.
i = I
O
x 10
-6
and c = 1120 ft/sec.

equation for decay of sound in a room become for t is:


) 1 ( log
05 . 0
o
=
e
r
S
V
t

Growth and decay of sound intensity in a room:

Variation of Time of Reverberation with Frequency:
The time of reverberation of a room is snot the same for all frequencies, being higher for low
frequencies than for high. This is due to the fact that most materials, especially thin, porous
materials, are much more highly absorptive at high frequencies than at low. A room treated with
materials of this sort may have a reverberation prod of 0.5 second at 4096 Hz and 5 seconds at 64
Hz. This room would not have an ideal reverberation characteristics.
It might be thought desirable by some to make the time of reverberation of a room as nearly the
same for all frequencies as possible by the proper choice of acoustic materials for the room
surfaces. McNair proposed that best results are obtained when the loudness of all frequencies
0 1 2 3
0 1 2 3 4 5
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Time in sec. (t)
dB
Growth
Decay i

0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Time in sec. (t)
Se
n
sa
ti
on
le
vel
dB
tr = 4 sec
0.2
0.4
0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6
tr = 0.95 sec
decays at the same rate. In order to accomplish this result, the time of reverberation must be greater
at low frequencies than at high. If a tone of low frequency (100 Hz) is equally as loud as another
high frequency (2000 Hz) the low frequency tone has the lower sensation level an, hence, if the
sensation levels of the two tones decrease at the same rate, the loudness of the low pitched tone
will decrease more rapidly than that of the high pitched tone. Thus, if the loudness of the two tones
is to decrease at approximately the same rate, the sensation level of the low pitched tone must
decrease more slowly than that of the high pitched tone; that is, the time of reverberation should be
longer for low frequencies than for high. It is a safe rule in practice to select acoustical materials
having the proper coefficient to give the room a reverberation time at 128 Hz that is roughly at 512
Hz and reverberation time at 2048 Hz that is approximately the same as that at 512 Hz.

Measurement of Absorption Coefficient:
A test room with reasonably small dimensions and highly reflecting surfaces is chosen for making
the measurement.

Room size = 20 x 30 x 10 feet
Total surface area S = 2200 square feet
Volume V = 6000 cubic feet
When room was empty, time of reverberation was measured and found to be at t
r
= 10 sec.

From
) 1 ( log
05 . 0
o
=
e
r
S
V
t ; = 0.0135 average abs. coeff. of walls of test room,
Total absorption in the test room is;
S = 2200 x 0.0135 = 30 sabines

A 100 square feet of acoustic material, the absorption coefficient is to be measured, was placed
against the wall or put on the floor, the time of reverberation was again measured and found to be
at 4 seconds. From this;

= 0.034 average abs. coeff. of walls of test room.
Sa = 2200 x 0. 034 = 74.8 sabines

Absorption coefficient of the material = (74.8 30) + 100 ft
2
surface covered by the material
= (74.8 30) + (100 x 0.0135)
= 46.15 sabines

Absorption coefficient of the material/foot = 0.46 sabines

Procedure to calculate reverberation time:
1. determine the volume of the room by simple tape line measurement
2. list all the different kinds of surfaces and objects contributing to the absorption of the room
3. ascertain the area of each different kind of surface and the number of each kind of object
4. from the table of absorption coefficients, obtain the value of the coefficient of absorption of
each kind of surface and each kind of object listed
5. calculate the total absorption of the room by getting the absorption of each different kind of
absorber and taking the sum
6. knowing the total absorption and total interior surface area of the room, calculate its
average coefficient of absorption
7. knowing the volume, surface area, and aaverage absorption coefficient of the room, its time
of reverberation is calculated by
) 1 ( log
05 . 0
o
=
e
r
S
V
t

Sample problem:
Calculations made for a typical small recitation room, rectangular in shape and built to
accommodate 20 persons.
1. volume of room = 6000 ft
3


2. absorver 3. area or 4. coeff at 5. sabines
number 512 Hz of absorption

rubber carpet, on concrete 600 ft
2
0.08 48
concrete ceiling ` 575 ft
2
0.016 9
plaster on tile, walls and ceiling 825 ft
2
0.02 17
wood, varnished 100 ft
2
0.03 3
glass, windows 150 ft
2
0.27 4
ventilators 10 ft
2
0.5 5
students in plywood chairs 20 4.4 each 88
total area S 2260 ft
2
total absorption a 174 sabines

6. average absorption coeff.,
S
a
= o , by definition;

08 . 0 ) 1 ( log
077 . 0
2260
174
=
= =
o
o
e


7. onds t
r
sec 65 . 1
) 08 (. 2260
) 6000 ( 05 . 0
= =

A similar calculation gives t
r
3.1 seconds at 128 Hz and 1.51 seconds at 2048 Hz.
A time of reverberation of 1.65 seconds at 512 Hz will be unsatisfactory for a classroom,
especially when occupied by a small class of, say 5 students, for then the time of reverberation
would be 2.5 seconds.

Percentage Articulation (PA):
- the measure of intelligibility of speech in an auditorium that has been adopted.
- This has been determined by letting a person stand in a normal position for the speaker,
calls out many different meaningless speech sounds while a number of listeners located
in various parts of the auditorium write down what they hear.
- A PA of 85% is considered as very good hearing condition.
- 75% considered satisfactory
- 65% barely acceptable, below 65% considered intolerable.
Factors affecting PA:
Shape of room
Loudness of sound received by the auditor or listener
Amount of reverberation
Amount of noise in the room
70 dB the most favorable level of the listener for hearing speech
96% - level of PA considered ideal for 70 dB.

By Knudsen:
PA = 96K
S
K
l
K
r
K
n

Where:
K
S
factor by which the PA, for ideal conditions, is reduced on account of improper shape of the
room
K
l
reduction factor due to inadequate loudness
K
r
reduction factor due to excessive reverberation
K
n
reduction factor due to the masking effect of extraneous noise

Shape of room
The shape of an auditorium should be such as to avoid the production of echoes, resonance,
interfering beams of sound, or the concentration of sound as the result of the focusing effect of
curved surfaces.
A sound that is received after reflection is an echo if it arrives sufficiently later than the initial
sound to be distinguished from it (1/17 second or more).
For shape of rooms;
K
S
nearly unity for a rectangular room of moderate size
- 0.95 for very large auditoriums with curved walls or ceiling.

Noise
Conclusions from results on experiment run by Knudsen on PA affected by noise:
1. PA decreases with increasing loudness of the disturbing noise of tone
2. low pitched tone of given sensation level causes more reduction in PA than a given high
pitched tone of the same sensation level, and that this effect is especially noticeable for
very loud tones.
3. that a noise of almost any level causes more reduction than a tone of any frequency having
the same level
4. the sensation level of a very high pitched tone may be 20 dB higher than the speech level
without reducing the PA to an unsatisfactory value, while a noise level that is several dB
lower than the speech level reduces the PA to an intolerably low value.
Suppose the average noise level in a room is found to be 40 dB, and the average speech level is found to be
50 dB. The ratio of noise level to speech level is therefore 40/50 = 0.8. The corresponding value of K
n
read
from the curve is about 0.67. With all other conditions ideal for hearing (all other values of Ks to be unity),
the value of PA given by the equation would be 0.64, a value much too low for satisfactory hearing. What
more id the values of Ks not equal to unity and of less than one.
The remedy is to reduce the noise level and increase the speech level to have a satisfactory value of PA.




Loudness:
Loudness of the speech sounds heard by an auditor has a very important part in determining the
intelligibility of the speech. The loudness in a room depends upon the power of the speakers voice
as well as upon the size and reverberation characteristics of the room.

Test performed by Fletcher and Stinberg:
(determine the effect of loudness in the recognition of speech)
The dotted curve showing the relation between PA and speech level shows that the optimum
sensation level for speech is about 70 dB, which corresponds to an intensity of 10,000,000 times
that at which the sound is barely audible. It also shows that the PA is 90% or higher for any speech
level between 50 and 100 dB and that it decreases slowly as the sensation level is increased above
70 and decreases very rapidly as the sensation level decreases below 50 dB, falling to 50%, an
intolerably low value, at a speech level of 25 dB.
47 dB is the speech level used for the experiment on Knudsen for the table shown
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
0
20
40
60
80
100
PA
Time of reverberation in seconds

Noise
128 Hz tone
Speech
level
46 dB
4096 Hz tone
PA
Sensation level of disturbing sound
(noise curve)
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
20
40
60
80
110
100


0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.2
1.0
Kn
Ratio of noise level to speech level
(noise reduction factor)

.2
.4
.6
.8
1
Lo
ud
nes
s
fac
tor
Kr


0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 0
20
40
60
80
100
PA
Sensation level dB
.2
.4
.6
.8
1
Lo
ud
nes
s
fac
tor
Kl