ACOUSTICS

Intensity of sound

• The intensity of the sound wave is defined as the rate of flow of sound energy
through a unit area normal to the direction of propagation.
 Pitch

• Pitch is a subjective sensation perceived when a tone of a given frequency is

sounded.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNf9nzvnd1k
 Timbre
• Timbre is a quality of a musical sound which is used for differentiating two sounds
when they are in the same frequency. Every sound that we hear is dependent on
its source. Sound timbre is defined by the characteristic sound waveform which is
dependent on the material through which it is produced.

• Below is a picture explaining the different types of waveforms that give an idea of
how timbre appears.
 Weber–Fechner law
The Weber-Fechner law states that the amount of change needed for sensory
detection to occur increases with the initial intensity of stimulus, and is
proportional to it. The change in stimulus that will be just noticeable is a constant
ratio of the original stimulus.
 Weber–Fechner law

• Weber-Fechner law states that the degree of sensation of sound is

proportional to the logarithm of the stimulus producing sound. If L is
the degree of loudness due to intensity I, then

L = k log I

• Where k is the proportionality constant depending on the sensitivity

of the ear, quality of the sound and other factors.
 Decibel

• 1 bel is defined as the relative intensity between two sound notes if

one is 10 times more intense than the other.
• The unit of bel is large and in practice a smaller unit decibel is used
1 decibel = 1/10 bel
 Acoustic Subdisciplines

Archaeoacoustics Musical acoustics

Aeroacoustics Psychoacoustics
Acoustic signal Speech
processing Ultrasonics
Architectural Underwater acoustics
acoustics Vibration and dynamics
Bioacoustics
Electroacoustics
 FUNDAMENTALS OF ACOUSTICS

Any motion which repeats itself after regular interval is called periodic or harmonic motion and the time
interval after which the motion is repeated (i.e. the position and the velocity of the moving body is the same) is
called its time period. Some examples of periodic motion include

 motion of planets around the sun,

 motion of a piston inside a cylinder, used in automobile engines, or

 motion of a ball in a bowl.

 SIMPLE HARMONIC MOTION

If in case of periodic motion, the body moves back and forth repeatedly about a fixed position (called equilibrium or
mean position), the motion is said to be oscillatory or vibratory. For instance, the motion of the earth around the sun or
the motion of the hands of the clock, are examples of periodic motion, but they are not oscillatory in nature.

The motion of piston in an automobile engine, motion of a ball in a bowl, motion of needle of sewing machine or the bob
of a pendulum clock are all examples of oscillatory motion. An oscillating body is said to execute simple harmonic
motion (SHM) if the magnitude of the forces acting on it is directly proportional to the magnitude of its displacement
from the mean position and the force (called restoring force) is always directed towards the mean Some examples of
simple harmonic motion include

 motion of a simple pendulum,

 a vibrating tuning fork, or
 a spring-mass system.
 OSCILLATORY MOTION

• Any oscillating system moves to and fro (back and forth) repeatedly. Oscillations may be
very complex such as those of a piano string or those of the earth during an earthquake
or beating of the heart.
• There are also oscillations which are not very evident to our senses like the oscillations
of the air molecules that transmit the sensation of sound, the oscillations of the atoms
in a solid that convey the sensation of temperature or the oscillations of the electrons
in the antennas of radio and TV transmitters.
• It would not be an exaggeration to say that we are indeed surrounded by oscillations all
the time because oscillations are not just confined to material objects such as musical
instruments but visible light, micro waves, radio waves and X-rays are also the outcome
of oscillatory phenomena.
• Thus, the study of oscillations is essential for the understanding of various systems, be
it mechanical, acoustical, electrical or atomic.
 SIMPLE HARMONIC MOTION

SHM can be defined in a number of ways:

1. If the force acting on the oscillating body is always in the direction opposite to the
displacement of the body from the equilibrium or the mean position and its magnitude
is proportional to the magnitude of displacement, the body is said to be executing SHM.

2. If the displacement vs. time curve of the oscillating body is sinusoidal in nature, the body
is said to be executing SHM. This is another definition of SHM.

3. If the potential energy of the oscillating body is proportional to the square of its
displacement with reference to the mean position, the body is said to be executing SHM.
SPRING-MASS SYSTEM
 -- 1.1

Here  is the cross-sectional area of the wire.

-- 1.2 --- 1.2

We already know that elasticity is the property by virtue of which a body offers resistance to any change in
its size or shape or both and makes the body regain its original condition when the deforming force, applied
within a certain maximum limit, is removed. In other words, one can say that in the deformed condition, the
body develops a restoring force and according to the Newton’s third law of motion, this force is equal in
magnitude but opposite in direction to the deforming force. Equation (1.2) implies that the restoring force is
proportional to the elongation and is directed towards the equilibrium position (relaxed position when there
is no restoring force acting).
 Similarly, for the spring-mass system, Hooke’s Law states that the restoring force is proportional to the
displacement of the spring in case of stretched as well as compressed configurations. In our case, the
restoring force exerted by the spring on the body is directed to the left [see Fig. 4 (b)] and is given by the
following relation:

-- 1.3

Since, the restoring force, F is proportional to the displacement and is opposite in sign to the displacement, the
resulting motion is simple harmonic. Here k is called the spring constant or stiffness constant. The SI unit of k is
Nm-1.
 SIMPLE OSCILLATOR

Figure 5: A spring-mass system where a body of mass m is connected by two

identical weightless springs which are attached to rigid walls.
Let us now express equation (1.3) in the differential form by using Newton’s second law of motion. From Newton’s second
law of motion, we know that force experienced by a body of mass m can be expressed as a function of acceleration,

Therefore, in a spring-mass system, the force can be written as

Or we can say that

or

-- 1.6
The above equation is the differential equation of SHM. k is the force constant (for our case of
spring-mass system, it is called the spring constant) and has dimensions

Therefore, the dimension of is , i.e. square of reciprocal of time. We can replace by . Thus, the
equation (1.6) takes the form

-- 1.7
 VELOCITY AND ACCELERATION IN SHM

• If we know the expression for the displacement of a particle, we can obtain

expressions for its velocity and acceleration using differential calculus. In the
previous Section, we obtained the expression for the velocity of the particle
executing SHM by differentiating the expression for displacement, x(t):
 ENERGY OF VIBRATION

Figure 15: Potential energy, kinetic energy and total energy as

functions of time, for SHM
 POTENTIAL ENERGY

The elastic potential energy dU gained by the system is equal to the work done against the force in moving it
through a distance dx. In other words,

-- 2.6

Replacing in the above equation, we get

Thus, the total elastic potential energy at a point x will be equal to the total work done in moving the oscillator from
the mean position (x = 0). Therefore, integrating the above expression from 0 to x, we get

or

-- 2.7
 KINETIC ENERGY

• The kinetic energy of the spring-mass system is entirely associated

with the moving object. Its
• value depends on how fast the object is moving, that is, on v(t).
Hence,

 -- 2.9
 TOTAL ENERGY
Using equations (2.7) and (2.9), we can determine the total mechanical energy at a particular instant, by
summing the potential and the kinetic energies,

From trigonometry, we know that is an identity. Thus

--- 2.11

The total mechanical energy of the oscillator (spring-mass system) is indeed a constant and is independent
of time or position.