Sound Fundamentals

Content
The Physics of Sound

Sound and the Ear

The Cochlea(Inner ear)
Mental Processes

Level and Loudness

Pitch
Frequency Response and Linearity

Audio Level Metering

Acoustic Intensity Level, Acoustic Power Level,
Acoustic Pressure Level

Content
The Decibel in Acoustics

Inverse Square Law

The VU and the Volume Indicator Instrument
The Phon

Velocity of Sound
Reflection and Refraction
Absorption

Root Mean Square Measurements

Selection of sound absorbing materials
Architectural Acoustics

The Physics of Sound

In a medium filled with fluid like air or water, any change of

distribution(Pressure) of the fluid or the velocity of fluid causes

vibrations
Normally, in a room filled with air, the air molecules are

colliding and rebounding with room walls

If a wall of the room is moved inside the room the rebounding

is faster and if the wall is moved outside the room the

rebounding is slower

The Physics of Sound

The sound waves are caused by vibrations in any

medium
Speed of sound is 344m/s(1234 Km/hour)
Like all other energies sound energy also follows the
E = mc2 relationship

The Physics of Sound

Sound also can pass through solids.
As the medium gets denser, the velocity of sound gets

increased.
Unlike electronic signals, sound is a mechanical wave
For humans, hearing is normally limited to
frequencies between about 20 Hz and 20,000 Hz (20
kHz)

Sound and the Ear

Ear is the organ in the body that senses the intensity

and frequencies present in the sound

Audio equipments can only be designed well with a
good knowledge of the human hearing mechanism
The hearing sense results from acoustic, mechanical,
hydraulic, nervous, and mental processes in the
ear/brain combination, leading to the term
psychoacoustics
Psychoacoustics is the branch of science studying the
psychological and physiological responses associated
with sound (including speech and music)

Sound and the Ear: Structure of the

ear

Sound and the Ear: Structure of the

ear
The organization of the ear is divided into 3 parts:

Outer , middle and inner ear

The outer ear works at low impedance, the inner ear
works at high impedance, and the middle ear is an
impedance matching device
The visible part of the outer ear is called the pinna,
which plays a subtle role in determining the direction
of arrival of sound at high frequencies
It is too small to have any effect at low frequencies
Incident sound enters the auditory canal or meatus

Sound and the Ear: Structure of the

ear
Sound vibrates the eardrum or tympanic membrane,

which seals the outer ear from the middle ear

The inner ear or cochlea works by sound traveling
though a fluid
Sound enters the cochlea via a membrane called the
oval window
If airborne sound were to be incident on the oval
window directly, the serious impedance mismatch
would cause most of the sound to be reflected
The middle ear remedies that mismatch by providing a
mechanical advantage

Sound and the Ear: Structure of the

middle ear

The tympanic membrane is linked to the oval window

by three bones known as ossicles, which act as a lever

system such that a large displacement of the tympanic
membrane results in a smaller displacement of the
oval window but with greater force

Sound and the Ear: Structure of the

middle ear
The malleus applies a tension to the tympanic

membrane, rendering it conical in shape

The incus acts on the stapes through a spherical joint
The middle ear is normally sealed, but ambient
pressure changes will cause static pressure on the
tympanic membrane, which is painful
The pressure is relieved by the Eustachian tube, which
opens involuntarily while swallowing
The Eustachian tubes open into the cavities of the
head and must normally be closed to avoid ones own
speech appearing deafeningly loud

Sound and the Ear: Structure of the

middle ear
The middle ear reflex is an involuntary tightening of

the tensor tympani and stapedius muscles, which

heavily damp the ability of the tympanic membrane
and the stapes to transmit sound by about 12 dB at
frequencies below 1 kHz
The main function of this reflex is to reduce the
audibility of ones own speech
However, loud sounds will also trigger this reflex,
which takes some 60 to 120 ms to occur, too late to
protect against transients such as gunfire

The Cochlea
The cochlea is a tapering

spiral cavity within bony

walls, which is filled with
fluid
The widest part, near the
oval window, is called the
base and the distant end is
the apex

The Cochlea
The cochlea is divided

lengthwise into three

volumes by Reissners
membrane and the
basilar membrane
The scala vestibuli
and the scala tympani
are connected by a
small aperture at the
apex of the cochlea
known as the
helicotrema

The Cochlea
The vibration of the basilar membrane is sensed by the

organ of Corti, which runs along the center of the

cochlea
The deflection of hair cells in the organ of Corti
triggers nerve firings and these signals are conducted
to the brain by the auditory nerve
The basilar membrane is not uniform, but tapers in
width and varies in thickness in the opposite sense to
the taper of the cochlea
The part of the basilar membrane that resonates as a
result of an applied sound is a function of the
frequency

The Cochlea
The distance from the apex where the maximum

resonance occurs is a logarithmic function of the

frequency
Essentially the basilar membrane is a mechanical
frequency analyzer

Mental Processes
The nerve impulses are processed in specific areas of

the brain that appear to have evolved at different times

to provide different types of information.
The time domain response works quickly primarily
aiding the direction-sensing mechanism and is older
in evolutionary terms
The frequency domain response works more slowly,
aiding the determination of pitch and timbre and
evolved later, presumably as speech evolved.
In early times, the most important aspect of the
hearing mechanism was the ability to determine the
location of the sound source

Mental Processes
As shown in figure, the

brain can examine several

possible differences
between the signals
reaching the two ears.

Mental Processes
At high frequencies the sound becomes directional

enough for the head to shade the distant ear, causing

what is called interaural intensity difference
Phase differences are only useful at low frequencies
and shading only works at high frequencies
A transient has a unique aperiodic waveform, which
suffers no ambiguity in the assessment of interaural
delay (IAD) between two versions
A one-degree change in sound location causes an IAD
of around 10 s
The smallest detectable IAD is a 6 s. This should be
the criterion for spatial reproduction accuracy

Mental Processes

Transient noises produce a pressure step whose source

is accurately and instinctively located

Mental Processes
The time of arrival of the transient at the two ears will

be different and will locate the source laterally within a

processing delay of around a millisecond.
Following the event that generated the transient, the
air pressure equalizes
The time taken for this equalization varies and allows
the listener to establish the likely size of the sound
source
In an audio system that claims to offer any degree of
precision, every component must be able to reproduce
transients accurately

Level and Loudness

The ear can detect a sound pressure variation of only

2x105 Pascals root mean square (rms) and so this figure

is used as the reference against which the sound
pressure level (SPL) is measured
The sensation of loudness is a logarithmic function of
SPL; consequently, a logarithmic unit, the decibel, was
adopted for audio measurement
The dynamic range of the ear exceeds 130 dB, but at the
extremes of this range, the ear either is straining to
hear or is in pain

Level and Loudness

The frequency response of the ear is not at all uniform

and it also changes with SPL

The subjective response to level is called loudness and
is measured in phons
The phon scale is defined to coincide with the SPL
scale at 1 kHz, but at other frequencies the phon scale
deviates because it displays the actual SPLs judged by a
human subject to be equally loud as a given level at 1
kHz

Level and Loudness

Level and Loudness

Loudness is a subjective reaction and is almost

impossible to measure
In addition to the level-dependent frequency response
problem, the listener uses the sound not for its own
sake but to draw some conclusion about the source
For example, most people hearing a distant motorcycle
will describe it as being loud. Clearly, at the source, it
is loud, but the listener has compensated for the
distance

Pitch
Pitch is an auditory perceptual property that allows the

ordering of sounds on a frequency-related scale

Pitches are compared as "higher" and "lower" in the
sense associated with musical melodies which require
"sound whose frequency is clear and stable enough to
be heard as not noise
Pitch is a major auditory attribute of musical tones,
along with duration, loudness, and timbre
Pitch may be quantified as a frequency, but pitch is not
a purely objective physical property; it is a subjective
psycho acoustical attribute of sound

Frequency Response and

Linearity
It is a goal in high-quality sound reproduction that the

timbre of the original sound shall not be changed by

the reproduction process

Frequency Response and

Linearity
Fundamental requirement for quality sound

reproduction is that the response to all frequencies

should be equal
Frequency response is easily tested using sine waves of
constant amplitude at various frequencies as an input
and noting the output level for each frequency
Another way in which timbre can be changed is by
nonlinearity

Frequency Response and

Linearity
All audio equipment

has a transfer function

between the input and
the output, which
form the two axes of a
graph
Unless the transfer
function is exactly
straight or linear , the
output waveform will
differ from the input

Frequency Response and

Linearity

A nonlinear transfer function will cause distortion,

which changes the distribution of harmonics and

changes timbre

The Decibel
The decibel is a logarithmic measuring system and has

its origins in telephony where the loss in a cable is a

logarithmic function of the length
Human hearing also has a logarithmic response with
respect to sound

Audio Level Metering

There are two main reasons for having level meters in

audio equipment: to line up or adjust the gain of

equipment and to assess the amplitude of the program
material.
The simplest level meter is essentially an AC voltmeter
with a logarithmic response
As the ear is logarithmic, the deflection of the meter is
roughly proportional to the perceived volume, hence
the term used is volume unit (VU) meter

Logarithmic Response Curve

Audio Level Metering

Real audio signals are rich in short transients, which

pass before the sluggish VU meter responds

Consequently, the VU meter is also called the virtually
useless meter in professional circles
Broadcasters developed the peak program meter
(PPM), which is also logarithmic, but which is
designed to respond to peaks as quickly as the ear
responds to distortion
If a peak is so short that the PPM fails to indicate its
true level, the resulting overload will also be so brief
that the ear will not hear it

Audio Level Metering

A further feature of the PPM is that the decay time of

the meter is very slow so that any peaks are visible for
much longer and the meter is easier to read because
the meter movement is less violent
In broadcasting, the use of level metering and line-up
procedures ensures that the level experienced by the
listener does not change significantly from program to
program
Consequently, in a transmission suite, the goal would
be to broadcast recordings at a level identical to that
which was determined during production

The Decibel in Acoustics

The term level is always used for a power expressed

in decibels
Apparent power E I or E2 Z
The average real or absorbed power is (E2 Z )cos
The reactive power is ( E2 Z )sin
Power factor cos
The term dBm is used when the W2 = 0.001 w

The Decibel in Acoustics

In acoustics, the ratios encountered most commonly

are changes in pressure levels

For reference pressure level 0.00002 N/m2 is used.
If the pressure is measured in pascals

Acoustic Intensity Level, LI

The acoustic intensity LI (the acoustic power per unit

of areausually in W/m2 or W/cm2 ) is found by

Acoustic Power Level, LW

Acoustic Power Level, LW is found by

Acoustic Pressure Level, LP

Acoustic Pressure Level, LP is found as follows

Consider the acoustic intensity at the surface of the

sphere of is 1 W/m2
From this we can calculate the Prms
where Wa is the total acoustic power in watts and c

equals 406 RAYLS and is called the characteristic

acoustic resistance
is the density of air in kilograms per cubic meter
(kg/m 3 ), c is the velocity of sound in meters per
second (m/s)

Acoustic Pressure Level, LP

The sound specific impedance is the ratio between the

sound pressure and the particle velocity it produces.

The specific impedance is one rayl if unit pressure
produces unit velocity.
Knowing the acoustic watts, Prms is easy to find

Thus the LP must be

 The LP , LI , and LW at 0.282 m are the same numerical

value if the source is omnidirectional

Inverse Square Law

If we double the radius of the sphere to 0.564 m, the

surface area of the sphere quadruples because the

radius is squared in the area equation (A = 4 r2)
Thus the intensity (power per unit area) will drop to
one-fourth its former value
Now an intensity change from 1 W to 0.25 W/m2 can
be written as a decibel change
The acoustic intensity has dropped 6 dB in any given
area This effect is commonly called the inverse square
law change in level
Gravity, light, and many other physical effects exhibit
this rate of change with varying distance from a source

The VU and the Volume

Indicator Instrument
If all audio signals were sine waves, we could insert a

dBm meter into the circuit and get a reading that

would correlate with both electrical and acoustical
variations
Unfortunately, audio signals are complex waveforms
and their rms value is not 0.707 times peak but can
range from as small as 0.04 times peak to as high as
0.99 times peak
To solve this problem, broadcasting and telephone
engineers designed a special instrument for measuring
speech and music in communication circuits

The VU and the Volume

Indicator Instrument
This instrument was called VU(Volume Unit)
The VU scales on meter gives correct readings only when

the measurement is being made across the impedance for

which it is calibrated (usually 150 or 600 )
Readings taken across the design impedance are referred to
as true levels, whereas readings taken across other
impedances are called apparent levels
Apparent levels can be useful for relative frequency
response measurements
When the impedance is not 600 , the correction factor of
10 log (600/ new impedance ) can be added to the formula
containing the reference level

The VU and the Volume

Indicator Instrument
Correction formula

where, apparent level = instrument indication +

attenuator or sensitivity indicator

The instrument should be calibrated to read a true
level of zero VU when an input of a 1000-Hz steadystate sine wave signal of 0 dBm (0.001 W) is connected
to it

Calculating number of decades

on a frequency span
To find the relationship of the number of decades

between the lowest and the highest frequencies, use

the following equations

The Phon
The phon is a unit of loudness level for pure tones

At 1000 Hz every decibel is the equivalent loudness of

a phon unit
1 phon is equal to 1 dBSPL at a frequency of 1 kHz
For two different sounds within a band they are added
in the same manner as decibel readings

where LP1 and LP2 are the individual sound levels in dB

Equal Loudness Contours

Velocity of Sound
For a given frequency, the relation of the wavelength to

the velocity of sound in the medium is

Where c is velocity of sound in m/s

In dealing with many acoustic interactions, the

wavelength involved is significant and the ability to

calculate it is important.
Therefore we need to be able to both calculate and
measure the velocity of sound quickly and accurately

Velocity of Sound
The velocity of sound varies with temperature to a

degree sufficient to require our alertness to it

The velocity of sound under conditions likely to be
encountered in connection with architectural acoustic
considerations is dependent on three fundamental
factors
1) is the ratio of specific heats and is 1.402 for
diatomic molecules (air molecules)
2) PS is the equilibrium gas pressure in Newtons per
square meter (1.013 105 N/m2 )
3) is the density of air in kilograms per cubic meter
(kg/m3 )

Velocity of Sound
The formula for velocity of sound is as follows

The density of air varies with temperature, and an

examination of the basic equations reveals that,

indeed, temperature variations are the predominant
influence on the velocity of sound in air
The velocity of sound is temperature dependent. The
approximate formula for calculating velocity is

Velocity of Sound

Reflection and Refraction

Sound can be reflected by hitting an object larger than

one-quarter wavelength of the sound

When the object is one-quarter wavelength or slightly
smaller, it also causes diffraction of the sound
(bending around the object)
Refraction occurs when the sound passes from one
medium to another
The velocity of sound increases with increasing
temperature

Reflection and Refraction

According to above equation, velocity of sound is

inversely proportional to density of air

is inversely proportional to temperature and hence
velocity of sound is directly proportional to
temperature
Therefore sound emitted from a source located on the
frozen surface of a large lake on a sunny day will
encounter warmer temperatures

Reflection and Refraction

As the wave diverges upward, causing the upper part of

the wave to travel faster than the part of the wave near
the surface.
This causes a lens-like action to occur, which bends the
sound back down toward the surface of the lake

Reflection and Refraction

Wind blowing against a sound source on a frozen

causes temperature gradients near the ground surface

that result in the sound being refracted upward
Wind blowing in the same direction as the sound
produces temperature gradients along the ground
surface that tend to refract the sound downward
Reflections from large boundaries, when delayed in
time relative to the direct sound, can be highly
destructive of speech

Absorption
Absorption is the inverse of reflection

For a given material, the absorption coefficient ( a ) is

where EA is the absorbed acoustic energy, EI is the total

incident acoustic energy and (1-a) is the reflected

sound
If a material has an a of 0.25, it will absorb 25% of all
sound energy having the same frequency and it will
reflect 75% of the sound energy having that frequency

Root Mean Square

Measurements
According to Ohms law, the power dissipated in a

resistance is proportional to the square of the applied

voltage
This causes no difficulty with direct current (DC), but
with alternating signals such as audio it is harder to
calculate the power
Consequently, a unit of voltage for alternating signals
was devised
The average power delivered during a cycle must be
proportional to the mean of the square of the applied
voltage

Root Mean Square

Measurements
An AC signal of a given number of volts rms will

dissipate exactly the same amount of power in a given

resistor as the same number of volts DC
for a sine wave the rms voltage is obtained by dividing
the peak voltage Vpk by the square root of 2.
However, for a square wave the rms voltage and the
peak voltage are the same

Root Mean Square

Measurements

Selection of sound absorbing

materials
A materials sound absorbing properties can be

described as a sound absorption coefficient in a

particular frequency range
Most good sound absorbers readily transmit sound
There are three basic categories of sound absorbers:
Porous materials commonly formed of matted or spun
fibers
Panel (membrane) absorbers having an impervious
surface mounted over an airspace
Resonators created by holes or slots connected to an
enclosed volume of trapped air

Selection of sound absorbing

materials
Porous absorbers: Common porous absorbers include

carpet, spray-applied cellulose, aerated plaster, fibrous

mineral wool and glass fiber, open-cell foam, and cast
porous ceiling tile
All of these materials allow air to flow into a cellular
structure where sound energy is converted to heat
Porous absorbers are the most commonly used sound
absorbing materials
Thickness plays an important role in sound absorption
by porous materials

Selection of sound absorbing

materials

Porous absorbers

Selection of sound absorbing

materials
Panel Absorbers: Typically, panel absorbers are non-

rigid, non-porous materials which are placed over an

airspace that vibrates in a flexural mode in response to
sound pressure exerted by adjacent air molecules
Common panel absorbers include thin wood paneling
over framing, lightweight impervious ceilings and
floors, glazing and other large surfaces capable of
resonating in response to sound
Panel absorbers are usually most efficient at absorbing
low frequencies

Selection of sound absorbing

materials
Panel Absorbers

Selection of sound absorbing

materials
Resonators: Resonators typically act to absorb sound

in a narrow frequency range

Resonators include some perforated materials and
materials that have openings
The resonant frequency is governed by the size of the
opening, the length of the neck and the volume of air
trapped in the chamber
The classic example of a resonator is the Helmholtz
resonator, which has the shape of a bottle

Selection of sound absorbing

materials

Resonator

Architectural acoustics
In any enclosed volume the sound transmission gets

complicated
First consider, an enclosed space that has an internal
volume ( V ), usually measured in cubic feet
Second, it has a total boundary surface area ( S ),
measured in square feet
The average absorption coefficient ( a ) for all the
surfaces together is found by

Where s1,2,...n are the individual boundary surface

areas in square feet

Architectural acoustics
a1, 2,n are the individual absorption coefficients of the

individual boundary surface areas, and S is the total

boundary surface area in square feet

Sound paths in a concert hall

Build-Up of the Reverberant

Sound Field

Shown in figure is the reflection pattern

The initial-signal-delay gap is followed by a succession

of sound reflections

Build-Up of the Reverberant

Sound Field
The reverberation time of the room is defined as the

time for reflections of a direct sound to decay by 60 dB

below the level of the direct sound
The sound arriving at the listener has at least three
distinct divisions:
1. The direct sound level LD
2. The early reflections level LRE (under 50 ms after LD)
3. The reverberant sound level LR