Introduction To Sound Definition of sound Sound is a disturbance, or wave, which moves through a physical medium (such as air, water

or metal) from a source to cause the sensation of hearing in animals. The source may be a vibrating solid or turbulence in the air. For example, consider a vibrating tuning fork as the source and the air as the medium. As a prong of the fork moves outward, air molecules in contact with it are also moved and cause a region of raised pressure (called a compression). When the prong moves inward, the air pressure on its outer edge is lowered (called a rarefaction), and the air molecules move back. This motion is passed on to adjacent molecules and in this manner a sound wave propagates and energy is transferred, even though each molecule only oscillates around a central position. The wavelength, Figure l is the distance between two successive rarefactions or condensations.

Figure 1 Propagation of Sound Wave.

Characteristics of Sound A sound can be characterized by the following three quantities: (i) Pitch. (ii) Quality. (iii) Loudness. Pitch is the frequency of a sound as perceived by human ear. A high frequency gives rise to a high pitch note and a low frequency produces a low pitch note. Figure 2 shows the frequencies of same common sounds.

Figure 2 Frequency and Wavelength of Everyday Sound

A pure tone is the sound of only one frequency, such as that given by a tuning fork or electronic signal generator. The fundamental note has the greatest amplitude and is heard predominantly because it has a larger intensity. The other frequencies such as 2fo, 3fo, 4fo, are called overtones or harmonics and they determine the quality of the sound. Loudness is a physiological sensation. It depends mainly on sound pressure but also on the spectrum of the harmonics and the physical duration.

Principle Of Sound

The abilities of speaking and hearing are very important factors in our personal lives and in our environment. Areas such as music, sound recording and reproduction, telephony, architectural acoustics, and noise control also have strong associations with our sensation of hearing and require an understanding of the principles and effects of sound. Unwanted sound in the environment is perceived as a nuisance and can cause emotional effects such as annoyance, irritation and sleep disturbance. The main sources of environmental noise issues are transportation noise, industrial noise, construction noise, and noise from leisure and entertainment. The measurement of noise exposure is an important step towards protecting people from hearing damage and in creating satisfactory environments for living. Good practice in the design of buildings and the construction of buildings therefore involves a consideration of the presence of sound in the environment. Sound is a variation in the pressure of the air of a type which has an effect on our ears and brain. These pressure variations transfer energy from a source of vibration that can be naturally-occurring, such as by the wind or produced by humans such as by speech. Sound in the air can be caused by a variety of vibrations, such as the following: Moving objects - examples include loudspeakers, guitarstrings, vibrating wall sand human vocal chords. Moving air - examples include horns, organpipes, mechanical fans and jet engines.

Wave Motion The mechanical vibrations of sound move forward using wavemotion. This means that, although the individual particles of material such as air molecules return to their original position, the sound energy obviously travels forward. The front of the wave spreads out equally in all directions unless it is affected by an object or by another material in its path. The sound waves can travel through solids, liquids and gases, but not through a vacuum.

Wavelength () Wavelength is the distance between any two repeating points on a wave. Unit meter (m)

Frequency() Frequency is the number of cycles of vibration per second. Unit hertz (Hz)

Velocity(v) Velocity is the distance moved per second in a fixed direction. Unit meter per second (m/s). For every vibration of the sound source the wave moves forward by one wavelength. The number of vibrations per second therefore indicates the total length moved in 1 second, which is the same as velocity. Velocity of Sound The velocity of sound is independent of the rate at which the sound vibrations occur, which means that the frequency of a sound does not affect its speed. Also unaffected by variations in atmospheric pressure such as those caused by the weather. But, is affected by the properties of the material through which it is travelling, gives an indication of the velocities of sound in different materials. Sound travels faster in liquid sand solids than it does in air because of the effect of density and elasticity of those materials. The particles of such materials respond to vibrations more quickly and so convey the pressure vibrations at a faster rate. Table 1 shows the velocities of sound in same common media.

Material Air Water Concrete Glass Iron Lead Steel Wood (hard) Wood (soft)

Velocity of Sound (m/s) 344 1,372 3,048 3,658 5,182 1,219 5,182 4,267 3,353

Table 1 Approximate Velocities of Sound in Some Common Media.

Frequency of Sound If an object that produces sound waves vibrates 100 times a second, for example, then the frequency of that sound wave will be 100Hz. The human ear hears this as sound of a certain pitch. Pitch is the frequency of a sound as perceived by human hearing. The frequency range to which the human ear responds is approximately 20 to 20000Hz. Most sounds contain a combination of many different frequencies and it is usually convenient to measure and analyses the min ranges of frequencies. The frequency range to which the human ear responds is approximately 20 to 20000Hz.

SOUND LEVELS

The strength or 'loudness' of a sound depends up on its energy content and this energy affects the size of the pressure variations produced. Measurement To specify the strength of a sound it is usually easiest to measure or describe some aspect of its energy or its pressure. Even so, sound does not involve large amounts of energy and its effect depends upon the high sensitivity of our hearing. Sound power Sound Power (P) is the rate a t which sound energy is produced at the source. Unit watt (W).

Thresholds The weakest sound that the average human ear can detect is remarkably low and occurs when the membrane in the ear is deflected by a distance less than the diameter of a single atom.

Threshold of hearing Is the weakest sound that the average human ear can detect. The value of the threshold varies lightly from person to person but for reference purposes it is defined to have the following values at 1000Hz. Io = x 12 W/m2 when measured as intensity. Po = 20x10 6 Pa (pascal) when measured as pressure. The sound intensity of the threshold of hearing (the quietest sound we can hear) is 0.00000000001watts/m2 (often written 12W/m2).

Threshold of pain Is the strongest sound that the human ear can tolerate. Very strong sounds become painful to the ear. Excessive sound energy will damage the ear mechanism and very large pressure waves will have other harmful physical effects, such as those experienced in an explosion. The threshold of pain has the following approximate values. I = 100W/m2 Or p = 200 pa (pascal)

The sound intensity at the threshold of pain is about 100 watts/m

Decibels (dB) For practical measurements of sound strength it is convenient to use a decibel scale based on constant ratios, a scale which is also used in some electrical measurements. The Decibel(dB) is a logarithmic ratio of two quantities. The decibel is calculated by the following formulas using either values of sound intensity or sound pressure. Velocity is proportional to the pressure squared.

In the measurement of sound levels the decibel ratio is always made with reference to the standard value for the threshold of hearing. This produces a scale of numbers that is convenient and gives a reasonable correspondence to the way that the ear compares sounds. The figure shows the total range of sound levels in decibels between the two thresholds of hearing and gives typical decibel values of some common sound. Precise values would depend upon the frequencies contained in the sounds and the distances from the source.

Noise Noise means any unwanted sound. In relation to sound, noise is not necessarily random. Sounds, particularly loud ones, that disturb people or make it difficult to hear wanted sounds, are noise. For example, conversations of other people may be called noise by people not involved in any of them; any unwanted sound such as domesticated dogs barking, neighbours playing loud music, portable mechanical saws, road traffic sounds, or a distant aircraft in quiet countryside, is called noise. Acoustic noise can be anything from quiet but annoying to loud and harmful. At one extreme users of public transport sometimes complain about the faint and tinny sounds emanating from the headphones or earbuds of somebody listening to a portable audio player; at irreversible hearing damage.

Noise control Noise control is an active or passive means of reducing sound emissions, often incentivized by personal comfort, environmental considerations or legal compliance. Practical and efficient noise control is wholly reliant on an accurate diagnosis of what is causing the noise, which first involves finding the source of noise. Once the source of noise has been found, the focus is reducing the noise at source by engineering means. The most common noise sources can be divided into aerodynamic (fans, pneumatics, combustion, etc) and mechanical (impacts, friction, etc). Effective noise control focuses on reducing the noise from these sources as close to the source as possible. Types of noise control There are four basic principles of noise control:

Sound insulation: prevent the transmission of noise by the introduction of a mass barrier. Common materials have high-density properties such as brick, thick glass, concrete, metal etc. Sound absorption: a porous material which acts as a noise sponge by converting the sound energy into heat within the material. Common sound absorption materials include decoupled leadbased tiles, open cell foams and fiberglass Vibration damping: applicable for large vibrating surfaces. The damping mechanism works by extracting the vibration energy from the thin sheet and dissipating it as heat. A common material is sound deadened steel. Vibration isolation: prevents transmission of vibration energy from a source to a receiver by introducing a flexible element or a physical break. Common vibration isolators are springs, rubber mounts, cork etc.