Acoustics

Section 1 - The Physics of Sound

Sound Waves are the compression and rarefaction of
molecules through a medium. For sound to exist, vibrations
must occur.
For example, when this tuning fork is hit, the right fork bends
outwards. This causes all of the air molecules around the fork
to be pushed together and causes a compression of air. As
the fork then moves back to try and reach its originally
position, it spreads out the air molecules causing a
rarefaction of the air. This will repeat until the fork has
stopped vibrating and has regained its original position.
The diagram to the right shows compression and rarefaction
in a 2D form but as sound is omnidirectional, these waves will
be emitted in every direction simultaneously.
In most instances, people will recognise a sound wave as looking something like the below
diagram. This is know as a waveform and is a visual representation of the compression and
rarefaction of the air. As shown below, the compressions of air molecules results in the peaks of
the sound waves and the
rarefactions result in the
troughs and this is what gives
us the waveform that we
recognise.
However, not all waveforms
will look the same as this
diagram and this is
determined by the frequency
of the sound. Frequency is
measured in Hertz (Hz) and is the amount of complete compressions and rarefactions in a second.
The higher the note, the more compressions and rarefactions occur every second and the lower
the note, the less happen every second. The diagram below shows an example of a high
frequency and a low frequency.
Sound travels at a speed of 344 m/s. Some aeroplanes
are capable of exceeding the speed of sound and this
results in a sonic boom where by the object emitting the
sound is traveling in front of the sound waves it is
emitting. It is similar to the Dopler effect where by the
sound waves bunch up to create a perceived sound with
higher pitch due to the object moving.
Instead, the object surpasses the sound waves and this
causes a high pressure sound wave and it is this that
causes the boom which can be heard from miles away.
When there are two microphones picking up the same sound source, the wave lengths can
sometimes be out of line. For example, the compression of one microphone could be at the same
time as the rarefaction of when combined, this will result in each microphone cancelling each other
out and the guitar loosing its tone and volume. Sometimes the waveforms will not align and this

can make the recordings sound unnatural. This is called being out of phase and can be fixed by
slightly shifting the audio recordings so that they match up and this will mean that the recordings
sound more natural and of a better quality.
Every instruments sound is built on a multiple of different notes. The fundamental note is the one
which the instrument is tuned to. For example, when a C note is played on a piano, you can tell it is
a piano and this is due to harmonics. Without these harmonics, the note would just be a pure Sine
wave and would just sound like a pure note. Instead,
each instrument has multiple different frequencies that
play at the same time as the note and this is what gives
the instrument its tone and distinct sound above other
instruments.
Sound is measured in Decibels. The Decibel scale is a
logarithmic measure of the power produced by sound.
As it was originally intended to be used to measure the
power intensity along telephone lines, it was known as
the Bel scale. It is used in comparison between the
threshold of hearing and the comparison This allows
large intensity values to be reduced to smaller numbers,
simply by counting the number of 0s. However this
would have meant that there would only be 12 numbers
on the scale.
This is because the threshold of pain has a power
intensity of 1,000,000,000,000. Instead it was decided
that the Bel system would be multiplied 10 meaning the
scale would run from 1-120 which is where the Deci-bel
system came from.
Section 2 - The Principles of Musical Instruments
All musical instruments are divided into families depending on how their sound is created. Each
family has different characteristics. For example, within the woodwind family, there are two main
types of instrument; reed instruments and flute instruments
The Reed instruments generate their sound by focusing air at a reed which then sends vibrating air
down a large column to produce the sound. The pitch the of the instruments can be changed by
covering the holes in the column and this extends how far the air has to travel - resulting in a lower
pitch.
Flute instruments create their sound by having a focused stream of air across the the hole in the
side of a tubular column. This creates the vibrating air which then resonates down the column of
air. The method used to change the pitch of the instrument can also be changed by covering the
holes and extending how far the air has to travel.

Stringed instruments create their sound by causing a string to vibrate. Classical stringed
instruments such as Violins, Cellos and Double Basses are all played by dragged a bow across the
strings. This causes the string to vibrate causing the noise. On these classical stringed
instruments, the sound is amplified by vibrating the bridge which rests on a hollow body and this
causes the sound to be amplified.
Other stringed instruments such as guitars can be plucked or strummed to form a chord. Stringed
instruments can be tuned by tightening the or loosening the string. The tighter the string the higher
the pitch of the note. Stringed instruments can have their pitches changed by pressing down to

shorten the string. This means a faster vibration and will result in a higher pitch being played.
Acoustic guitars work very similar to orchestral instruments by using the bridge to amplify the
sound. Electric guitars have solid body made from wood and use pickups and electric circuits to
amplify the strings being played.