UNIT II

1. Basic Theory
2. Generation, Propagation ,Transmission & Reception of Sound
3. Frequency
4. Wavelength
5. Velocity of Sound
6. Sound Intensity
7. Inverse Square Law
8. Decibel scale
9. Decibel Addition & Subtraction
10. Numerical on above topics

We often talk about wanting to build rooms with "good acoustics," but this has become a vague and almost
meaningless term. There is no single, all-encompassing set of criteria that will yield "good acoustics" for all
rooms and uses. Small classrooms, large lecture rooms, auditoriums, music rooms, cafeterias, and
gymnasiums all have different acoustical requirements. To understand how these different spaces should
be designed, we must first familiarize ourselves with a few basic properties of sound.

In the first century B.C., the Roman architect Vitruvius explained in De Architectura, his famous 10-volume
treatise on architecture, that sound "moves in an endless number of circular rounds, like the innumerably
increasing circular waves which appear when a stone is thrown into still water … but while in the case of
water the circles move horizontally on a plane surface, the voice not only proceeds horizontally, but also
ascends vertically by regular stages." While Vitruvius did not understand everything about sound, he was
correct about this particular point. In general, sound radiates in waves in all directions from a point source
until it encounters obstacles like walls or ceilings.

The acoustic quality of a room, better its acoustic adequacy for each usage, is determined by the sum of all
equipment and materials in the rooms. In the sense of good acoustics the rooms should contribute to
perceive speech, music or other sounds as not too loud or too quiet so that we can communicate with much
less effort and feel comfortable.

SOUND AND ACOUSTICS

Acoustics is the science of sound, including its production, transmission and effects. Physics of Sound In an
informal context, the term sound refers to all that is audible, all that produces hearing sensations. Often
the sound propagates through gaseous substances such as air, but it may also travel through solid or liquid
substances such as wall, sand and water. It is also heard in spoken language that sound travels through
electric lines, for example, when speaking of sound information propagation via phone lines. In short,
Acoustics includes the production, transmission and the effects of sound.

But what is Sound physically?

Sound is any disturbance that travels through an elastic medium such as air, ground or water to be heard
by the human ear. When a body vibrates, or moves back and forth, the oscillation causes a periodic
disturbance of the surrounding air or other medium that radiates outward in straight lines in the form of a
pressure wave. The effect these waves produce upon the ear is perceived as sound.
From the point of view of physics, sound is considered to be the waves of vibratory motion themselves,
whether or not they are heard by the human ear.
ear. When the disturbances reach our hearing organs, they
are transformed into hearing sensations
ons by our brains.

GENERATION OF SOUND WAVES

Sound waves are generated by any vibrating body. For example, when a violin string vibrates upon being
bowed or plucked, its movement in one direction pushes the molecules of the air before it, crowding them
together
ogether in its path. When it moves back again past its original position and on to the other side, it leaves
behind it a nearly empty space, i.e., a space with relatively few molecules in it. In the meantime, however,
the molecules which were at first crowded
crowded together have transmitted some of their energy of motion to
other molecules still farther on and are returning to fill again the space originally occupied and now left
empty by the retreating violin string. In other words, the vibratory motion set up byb the violin string causes
alternately in a given space a crowding together of the molecules of air (a condensation/compression)
condensation
and a thinning out of the molecules (a rarefaction).
Taken together a condensation and a rarefaction make up a sound wave; such h a wave is called
longitudinal, or compressional, because the vibratory motion is forward and backward along the direction
that the wave is following. Such
uch a wave travels by disturbing the particles of a material medium.

Thus, Sound is:

• Sound is a simple form of energy

• It is a wave motion in air
• These waves are created by any vibrating body
• Sound travels through air at a speed of 350 m/sec

FIY : Sound
ound waves cannot travel through a vacuum.
FUNCTION OF ACOUSTICS:

• To prevent outside sound/noise from coming inside and vice versa.

• To reduce noise level.
• To achieve the desired hearing condition in various types of spaces

FACTORS INVOLVING SOUND:

• Source of sound.
• Medium it travels through.
• Ear – as a receiver.

PROPAGATION OF SOUND

Sound can comprise harmonious tones, music, bangs, noise, crackling, but also spoken words. As we know,
there are many different sounds. Fire alarms are loud, whispers are soft, sopranos sing high, tubas play low,
everyone of your friends has a different voice. All of these sound events cause a slight variation in air
pressure which propagates within the surroundings of its source. We therefore refer to the sound pressure
of a tone, of noise, speech or music. The louder the sound event, the heavier is this pressure variation and
the higher is the sound pressure.

As a rule, sound always propagates into all three directions of space (it is 3-dimensional).

With many sound sources the sound radiation depends on the orientation of the source. Today it is also
possible to select very tightly restricted sound radiation directions by means of special loudspeakers so that
the radiated sound can be directed specifically to a particular position. This method is used, for example,
when fitting lecture rooms with electro acoustic equipment. Here, it has to be taken into account that the
sound energy decreases considerably with increasing distance from the sound source.

In principal one has to differentiate between airborne sound, sound in liquids and sound in solid bodies.
Generally sound is a propagation of pressure and density variation in an elastic medium. If sound travels
through a wall or another partition the airborne sound is converted to vibration of the wall and then
radiated from the vibrating wall as airborne sound to the room.

Sound travels more slowly in gases than in liquids, and more slowly in liquids than in solids. Since the
ability to conduct sound is dependent on the density of the medium, solids are better conductors than
liquids; liquids are better conductors than gases.

Additionally, in solids, there occurs the possibility of two different types of sound waves: one type (called
"longitudinal waves" when in solids) is associated with compression (the same as all sound waves in fluids)
and the other is associated with “shear stresses”, which cannot occur in fluids. These two types of waves
have different speeds, and (for example in an earthquake) may thus be initiated at the same time but arrive
at distant points at appreciably different times. The speed of compression-type waves in all media is set by
the medium's compressibility and density, and the speed of shear waves in solids is set by the material's
rigidity, compressibility and density.

Sound moves through a medium from the point of generation to the listener. When an object vibrates, it
sets the particles of the medium around it vibrating. The particle does not travel all the way from the
vibrating object to the ear. A particle of the medium in contact with the vibrating object is first displaced
from its equilibrium position. It then exerts a force on the adjacent particle it than exerts the force on the
adjacent. As a result of which the adjacent particle gets displaced from its position of rest. After displacing
the adjacent particle the first particle comes back to its original position. This process continues in the
medium till the sound reaches your ear. The disturbance created by a source of a sound in the medium
travels through the medium and not the particles of the medium.

TRANSMISSION & RECEPTION OF SOUND

There are three requirements for sound to "occur" in an environment:

(1) A vibrating source to initiate sound,

(2) A medium to transmit sound vibrations throughout the environment and
(3) A receiver to hear or record sound vibrations.

Sound is initiated in an environment by a vibrating source. Vibrating sources are many and varied in the
World -- vocal cords, a membrane of animal hide or synthetic material, a stretched string that is plucked or
bowed, objects such as wood, stone, clay, metal and glass that are struck, rattling of beads in a small
enclosure, clapping of hands, singing of birds, grunts and groans of animals, buzzing of lips in a small
resonating tube, splitting of an air stream, small pieces of reed attached to a tube and set in motion by the
action of human breath, and many, many other natural vibrating sources. Sound may also be produced
artificially by electronic synthesis.

A medium of sound transmission must be present to transmit vibrations of a sound source to a receiver.
Two efficient mediums of sound transmission are gases (such as air) and liquids (such as water).

Water is a more efficient transmitter of sound compared to air as sound travels faster and further in water.
A vibrating source transmits its vibrations through a medium by causing the medium to move, or vibrate, at
exactly the same speed of vibration as the source itself. The movement of the gas or liquid medium is
identical to surface waves found on any large body of water. Surface waves on water move up and down,
and they transmit energy from one point to another; from a source (tidal action, wind, a passing ship, an
earthquake) to receiver (the shoreline).

Sound transmission through the air is accomplished by a similar physical process. The sound source initiates
waves in the air, and the air moves up and down (like surface water waves) at the same rate of speed as
the sound source. This motion of the medium is sensed by a receiver, such as the human ear or a recording
microphone. One complete up-and-down movement of the sound source is called a cycle and the rate of
speed of the vibrations of a particular sound source is measured in the number of complete cycles that the
source moves per second (cycles per second or "cps").

In recent years the expression of cps has been assigned to a proper name, Hertz (Hz), after Heinrich
Hertz (1857-1894). Hertz generated and detected electromagnetic waves across the length of his
laboratory on a wavelength of approximately one metre. To detect the electromagnetic waves Hertz
employed a simple form of oscillator, which he termed a resonator. Cps is now expressed as Hz (i.e. 1000
Hz, rather than 1000 cps).
FREQUENCY (f)

The frequency of a sound wave describes the number of oscillations that a particle undergoes in 1 second.
A complete oscillation is called a cycle. The unit of frequency is known as Hertz (short: Hz). This can also be
described as the cycles per seconds (cps), where 1 Hz = 1 cycle per second. A frequency of 1000 Hz means
1000 oscillations per second. The greater the no of complete vibrations (called cycles),the higher the
frequency.A Pure tone is vibrations produced at single frequency.

A frequency range of 20 to 20000Hz is normal for Human ear OR the Audible Range. Different people and
age respond to different frequency range. Sound waves with frequencies less than those of audible waves
are called subsonic; those with frequencies above the audible range are called ultrasonic.

A Sound comprises various frequencies. For our convenience, we call them low, medium and high. The
medium frequencies, at which the human auditory system is particularly sensitive, are weighted more
heavily than the high and low frequencies.

In order to deal with such a large spectrum, acousticians commonly divide the frequency range into sections
called octave bands. Each octave band is identified by its center frequency. This also correlates with the
sensitivity of the ear to frequency, since a change in frequency is more readily distinguished at lower
frequencies than at higher ones. For example, the shift from 100 to 105 Hz is more noticeable than the shift
from 8000 to 8005 Hz. The differences between sounds are caused by intensity, pitch, and tone.

Intensity: Sound is a wave and waves have amplitude, or height. Amplitude is a measure of energy. The
more energy a wave has, the higher its amplitude. As amplitude increases, intensity also increases.
Intensity is the amount of energy a sound has over an area. Loudness cannot be assigned a specific
number, but intensity can. Intensity is measured in decibels (dB).

Decibels and intensity, however, do not depend on the ear. They can be measured with instruments. A
whisper is about 10 decibels while thunder is 100 decibels. Listening to loud sounds, sounds with intensities
above 85 decibels, may damage your ears. If a noise is loud enough, over 120 decibels, it can be painful to
listen to. 120 decibels is the threshold of pain.

Sounds and their Decibels

Source of Sound Decibels

Boeing 747 140
Civil Defence Siren 130
Jack Hammer 120
Rock Concert 110
Lawn Mower 100
Motorcycle 90
Garbage Disposal 80
Vacuum Cleaner 70
Normal Conversation 60
Light Traffic 50
Background Noise 40
Whisper 30
Pitch: Pitch is the subjective response of human hearing to frequency. Pitch helps us distinguish between
low and high sounds. Pitch depends on the frequency of a sound wave. A scale of sound from low to high
frequency is called Pitch. The high/low pitch depends on high/low frequency. Frequency is the number of
wavelengths that fit into one unit of time. Remember that a wavelength is equal to one compression and
one rarefaction. Even though a singer sang the same note, because the sounds had different frequencies,
we heard them as different.

Ultrasonic waves have many uses. In nature, bats emit ultrasonic waves and listen to the echoes to help
them know where walls are or to find prey. Captains of submarines and other boats use special machines
that send out and receive ultrasonic waves. These waves help them guide their boats through the water
and warn them when another boat is near.

Tone & Harmonics: Another difference you may have noticed between sounds is that some sounds are
pleasant while others are unpleasant. A beginning violin player sounds very different than a violin player in
a symphony, even if they are playing the same note. A violin also sounds different than a flute playing the
same pitch. This is because they have a different tone, or sound quality. A tone is a sound sensation
possessing Pitch. A Pure tone is simply a sound sensation of a single frequency which can be produced by
striking a tuning fork. Most musical sounds comprise multitude of frequencies and are known as Complex
tones. The lowest frequency of a complex tone is called the Fundamental, while the components of
higher frequencies are called Partials or Overtones. If the frequencies of the partials are simple integral
multiples of the Fundamental, they are called Harmonics. When a source vibrates, it actually vibrates with
many frequencies at the same time. Each of those frequencies produces a wave. Sound quality depends on
the combination of different frequencies of sound waves.

Imagine a guitar string tightly stretched. If we strung it, the energy from our finger is transferred to the
string, causing it to vibrate. When the whole string vibrates, we hear the lowest pitch. This pitch is called the
fundamental.

Timbre: It is the quality of auditory sensation in terms of which a person can distinguish between the
sounds that have the same pitch and loudness but are played on different instruments.

How is this knowledge useful in everyday life?

The more harmonics a sound has, the fuller the quality the sound is. All the different overtones of a sound
help give it a unique pattern. This is especially true for a person’s voice. Everybody in the world has a
different voice print, or pattern of overtones. Detectives can track a criminal if they know his voice print just
as they would use his fingerprints. Voice identification equipment is used in advanced security systems to
recognize and let in only one authorized person. Voice prints are also used in modern technology, for
example, voice activated telephones. In the future, if you want the lights on, it may be more common to
say, “Turn on lights,” than to flip a light switch.

What is the difference between music and noise?

Both music and noise are sounds, but how can we tell the difference? Some sounds, like construction work,
are unpleasant. While others, such as your favourite band, are enjoyable to listen to. If this was the only
way to tell the difference between noise and music, everyone’s opinion would be different. The sound of
rain might be pleasant music to you, while the sound of your little brother practicing piano might be an
unpleasant noise. To help classify sounds, there are three properties which a sound must have to be
musical. A sound must have an identifiable pitch, a good or pleasing quality of tone, and repeating pattern
or rhythm to be music. Noise on the other hand has no identifiable pitch, no pleasing tone, and no steady
rhythm.
WAVELENGTH

A sound wave is usually represented graphically by a wavy, horizontal line; the upper part of the wave (the
crest) indicates a condensation and the lower part (the trough) indicates a rarefaction .Wavelength is the
distance a sound wave travels during each complete cycle of vibration. The constant relationship amongst
wavelength, frequency and speed of sound can be denoted thus:

Wavelength (λ) = Speed of Sound (c)

Frequency (f)

Speed of Sound = frequency x wavelength

where λ = wavelength (m)

c = velocity of wave propagation (m /s)
f = frequency (Hz)

For example, a wave that has a frequency of 30 Hz (or 300/s) and a velocity of 300 m/s would have a
wavelength of 10 meters.

PERIOD (T)
It is the time taken for one cycle of a wave to pass a fixed point. It is related to frequency by: T = 1/f

The formulae (formulas): c = λ × f λ=c/f f=c/λ

Physical value Symbol Unit Formula

Frequency f = 1/T Hz = 1/s f = c / λ
Wavelength λ m λ=c/f
Time period or
T = 1/f s T=λ/c
cycle duration
Wave speed c m/s c=λ×f

The amplitude (A) has nothing to do with frequency, wavelength, period of time, and speed of sound.
 Speed of sound in different Medias

Media Speed of sound

PVC soft 80 m/s

343 m/s at
Air
20°C

Cork 500 m/s

Helium 1 020 m/s

Water 1 480 m/s

Polystyrol 1 800 m/s

Plexiglas 1 840 m/s

Concrete 3 100 m/s

Tile 3 600 m/s

Pine wood 3 600 m/s

Granite 3 950 m/s

Oak wood 4 100 m/s

Iron 5 000 m/s

Steel 5 050 m/s

Aluminium 5 200 m/s

Quartz glass 5 400 m/s

Amplitude a, Period T and Wavelength λ

y = sound pressure p (sound pressure amplitude).

If the graph shows at the x axis the time t, we see the period T = 1 / f.
If the graph shows at the x axis the distance d, we see the wavelength λ.
The largest deflection or elongation is referred to as amplitude a.

The amplitude a (strength of the wave or loudness) has nothing to do

with the period, the frequency, and the wavelength.
SOUND INTENSITY AND DISTANCE

The amount of energy that is transported past a given area of the medium per unit of time is known as the
intensity of the sound wave. The greater the amplitude of vibrations of the particles of the medium, the
greater the rate at which energy is transported through it, and the more intense that the sound wave is.
Intensity is the energy/time X area; and since the energy/time ratio is equivalent to the quantity power,
intensity is simply the power/area.

Typical units for expressing the intensity of a sound wave are Watts/meter2.

Sound wave carries its energy through a two-dimensional or three-dimensional

medium, the intensity of the sound wave decreases with increasing distance from the
source. The decrease in intensity with increasing distance is explained by the fact
that the wave is spreading out over a circular (2 dimensions) or spherical (3
dimensions) surface and thus the energy of the sound wave is being distributed over
a greater surface area. The diagram at the right shows that the sound wave in a 2-
dimensional medium is spreading out in space over a circular pattern. Since energy
is conserved and the area through which this energy is transported is increasing, the
power (being a quantity that is measured on a per area basis) must decrease.

SOUND PRESSURE, SOUND INTENSITY & LOUDNESS

The vibration of air particles due to a sound wave causes fluctuation in the atmospheric pressure which is
called Sound pressure. The unit for sound pressure is pascal (Pa), equal to newton per square metre (N/m²).

The Sound pressures are measured on logarithmic scale called the Decibel (dB)

SOUND INTENSITY
The sound intensity (acoustic intensity) “I” of a sound wave is defined as the average rate of flow of energy
through a unit area normal to the direction of wave propagation.

LOUDNESS

The subjective response to sound pressure and sound intensity is called Loudness. It is scaled from soft to
loud. The phon is the unit of loudness level.

Musical sounds are distinguished from noises as they are composed of regular, uniform vibrations, while
noises are irregular and disordered vibrations. Composers, however, frequently use noises as well as
musical sounds. One musical tone is distinguished from another on the basis of pitch, intensity, or loudness,
and quality, or timbre. Pitch describes how high or low a tone is and depends upon the rapidity with which a
sounding body vibrates, i.e., upon the frequency of vibration. The higher the frequency of vibration, the
higher the tone; the pitch of a siren gets higher and higher as the frequency of vibration increases.
DOPPLER EFFECT
The apparent change in the pitch of a sound as a source approaches or moves away from an observer is
described by the Doppler effect. The higher the frequency of vibration, the higher the tone; the pitch of a
siren gets higher and higher as the frequency of vibration increases. The intensity or loudness of a sound
depends upon the extent to which the sounding body vibrates, i.e., the amplitude of vibration. A sound is
louder as the amplitude of vibration is greater, and the intensity decreases as the distance from the source
increases

Eg. It is commonly heard when a vehicle sounding a siren or horn approaches, passes, and recedes from an
observer. Compared to the emitted frequency, the received frequency is higher during the approach,
identical at the instant of passing by, and lower during the recession.

Doppler effect, change in the wavelength (or frequency) of energy in the form of waves, e.g., sound or light,
as a result of motion of either the source or the receiver of the waves; the effect is named for the Austrian
scientist Christian Doppler, who demonstrated the effect for sound. If the source of the waves and the
receiver are approaching each other (because of the motion of either or both), the frequency of the waves
will increase and the wavelength will be shortened—sounds will become higher pitched and light will
appear bluer. If the sender and receiver are moving apart, sounds will become lower pitched and light will
appear redder. A common example is the sudden drop in the pitch of a train whistle as the train passes a
stationary listener. The Doppler effect in reflected radio waves is employed in radar to sense the velocity of
the object under surveillance. In astronomy, the Doppler effect for light is used to measure the velocity (and
indirectly distance) and rotation of stars and galaxies along the direction of sight. In the spectrum of nearly
every star there are wavelengths, characteristic of atoms, that lie near but not quite coincident to the same
wavelengths as measured in the laboratory. The small deviations or shifts are generally due to the relative
motion of the celestial object and the earth. Both blue shifts and red shifts are observed for various objects,
indicating relative motion both toward and away from the earth. Such shifts have been used to measure
the orbital velocity of the earth, to detect binary stars and variable stars, and to detect rotation of other
galaxies. The Doppler effect is responsible for the red shifts of distant galaxies, and also of quasars, and
thus provides the best evidence for the expansion of the universe, as described by Hubble's law. In addition
to observations of visible light, the Doppler effect for radio waves is utilized by astronomers to determine
the velocities of dust clouds in the spiral arms of the Milky Way galaxy. These observations provided the
first direct proof that our own galaxy is rotating. The Doppler shift in radar pulses reflected from the
surfaces of Venus and Mercury have been analyzed to obtain new values for their periods of rotation about
their axes.

The greater the frequency, the higher the pitch of the sound.
The wave speed of sound depends on the medium (such as air) that it is travelling through.
Sound waves travel at 330m/s in air at 0oC
350m/s in air at 30oC
1500m/s in water
6000m/s in steel.

INVERSE SQUARE LAW

The mathematical relationship between intensity and distance is referred to as an

Inverse Square Law. The intensity varies inversely with the square of the distance
from the source. If the distance from the source is doubled (increased by a factor of
2), then the intensity is quartered (decreased by a factor of 4). Similarly, if the
distance from the source is quadrupled, then the intensity is decreased by a factor of
16. Applied to the diagram at the right, the intensity at point B is one-fourth the
intensity as point A and the intensity at point C is one-sixteenth the intensity at point
A. Since the intensity-distance
distance relationship is an inverse relationship, an increase in
i one quantity
corresponds to a decrease in the other quantity.
quantity And since the intensity-distance
distance relationship is an inverse
square relationship, whatever factor by which the distance is increased, the intensity is decreased by a
factor equal to the square of the distance change factor.
factor. The sample data in the table below illustrate the
inverse square relationship between power and distance.

Distance Intensity

1m 160 units

2m 40 units

3m 17.8 units

4m 10 units

A sound wave front is spherical in

n shape. As this spherical wave front expands, its energy is distributed over
an ever-increasing
increasing area. For each doubling of the distance from the point of origin, the starting energy is
now spread out over 4 times the area. This means that the sound level drops by 6 dB for each doubling of
the distance from the sound source.

In an open area, sound drops off according to the inverse square law.. In an auditorium where the front
f
seats are 6 meters (20 ft) from the sound source and the back seats are 60 m (200 ft) from the sound
source, the sound intensity would drop by a factor of 100 ( = 20 decibels ) between the front seats and the
back seats if it followed this pattern. This is an unacceptable loss which is prevented partially by
reverberation.

In acoustics, the sound pressure of a spherical wavefront radiating from a point source decreases by 50% as
the distance r is doubled; measured in dB,, the decrease is still 6.02 dB, since dB represents an intensity
ratio. The behaviour is not inverse-square,
square, but is inverse proportional (inverse distance law):

Example of the Inverse Square Law:

If you are:
1 foot from sound source with a sound level of 70 dB SPL

Then at:
2 feet from sound source: 70 -6
6 = 64 dB SPL

And at:
4 feet from sound source: 70 – 6 -6
6 = 58 dB SPL

This is called the inverse square law

THE THRESHOLD OF HEARING AND THE DECIBEL SCALE

Humans are equipped with very sensitive ears capable of detecting sound waves of extremely low intensity.
The faintest sound that the typical human ear can detect has an intensity of 1X10-12 W/m2. This intensity
corresponds to a pressure wave in which a compression of the particles of the medium increases the air
pressure in that compressional region by a mere 0.3 billionth of an atmosphere. A sound with an intensity
of 1X10-12 W/m2 corresponds to a sound that will displace particles of air by a mere one-billionth of a
centimetre. The human ear can detect such a sound. WOW! This faintest sound that a human ear can
detect is known as the threshold of hearing. The most intense sound that the ear can safely detect without
suffering any physical damage is more than one billion times more intense than the threshold of hearing.

Since the range of intensities that the human ear can detect is so large, the scale that is frequently used by
physicists to measure intensity is a scale based on powers of 10. This type of scale is sometimes referred to
as a logarithmic scale. The scale for measuring intensity is the decibel scale. The threshold of hearing is
assigned a sound level of 0 decibels (abbreviated 0 dB); this sound corresponds to an intensity of 1X10-12
W/m2. A sound that is 10 times more intense ( 1X10-11 W/m2) is assigned a sound level of 10 dB. A sound
that is 10*10 or 100 times more intense (1X10-10 W/m2) is assigned a sound level of 20 db. A sound that is
10*10*10 or 1000 times more intense (1X10-9 W/m2) is assigned a sound level of 30 db. A sound that is
10*10*10*10 or 10000 times more intense (1X10-8 W/m2) is assigned a sound level of 40 db. Observe that
this scale is based on powers of 10. If one sound is 10x times more intense than another sound, then it has a
sound level that is 10*x more decibels than the less intense sound. The table below lists some common
sounds with an estimate of their intensity and decibel level.
 # of Times
Source Intensity Intensity Level
Greater Than TOH

Threshold of Hearing (TOH) 1x10-12 W/m2 0 dB 100

Rustling Leaves 1x10-11 W/m2 10 dB 101

Whisper 1x10-10 W/m2 20 dB 102

Normal Conversation 1x10-6 W/m2 60 dB 106

Busy Street Traffic 1x10-5 W/m2 70 dB 107

Vacuum Cleaner 1x10-4 W/m2 80 dB 108

Large Orchestra 6.3x10-3 W/m2 98 dB 109.8

Walkman at Maximum Level 1x10-2 W/m2 100 dB 1010

Front Rows of Rock Concert 1x10-1 W/m2 110 dB 1011

Threshold of Pain 1x101 W/m2 130 dB 1013

Military Jet Takeoff 1x102 W/m2 140 dB 1014

Instant Perforation of Eardrum 1x104 W/m2 160 dB 1016

While the intensity of a sound is a very objective quantity that can be measured with sensitive
instrumentation, the loudness of a sound is more of a subjective response that will vary with a number of
factors. The same sound will not be perceived to have the same loudness to all individuals. Age is one factor
that affects the human ear's response to a sound. Quite obviously, your grandparents do not hear like they
used to. The same intensity sound would not be perceived to have the same loudness to them as it would to
you. Furthermore, two sounds with the same intensity but different frequencies will not be perceived to
have the same loudness. Because of the human ear's tendency to amplify sounds having frequencies in the
range from 1000 Hz to 5000 Hz, sounds with these intensities seem louder to the human ear. Despite the
distinction between intensity and loudness, it is safe to state that the more intense sounds will be perceived
to be the loudest sounds.
DECIBELS

Ernst Weber and Gustav Fecher (19th century German scientists) discovered that nearly all human
sensations are proportional to the logarithm of the intensity of the stimulus. In acoustics, the bel unit
(named in honour of Alexander Graham Bell) was first used to relate to the intensity of sound to an
intensity level corresponding to the human hearing sensation.

The most common measure of a sound’s level is Sound Pressure Level, or SPL, expressed in decibels,
abbreviated dB. Decibels are not typical units like inches or pounds in that they do not linearly relate to a
specific quantity. Instead, decibels are based on the logarithmic ratio of the sound power or intensity to a
reference power or intensity. Sound power and intensity are not easy to measure. However, sound pressure
is easily measured with a sound level meter. Sound pressure may also be expressed in dB since sound
pressure squared is proportional to sound power or intensity. We use dB instead of the actual amplitude of
the sound in units of pressure because its logarithmic value represents the way our ears interpret sound and
because the numbers are more manageable for our calculations. Most sounds fall in the range of 0 to140
dB, which is equivalent to waves with pressures of 20 to 200,000,000 micropascals (or 2 x 10 -10 to 2 x 10 -2
atm). To help you get a feeling for sound pressure levels (in dB), the approximate SPLs of some common
sound sources are given in Figure 12.

A simple sound level meter combines sound pressure levels over all frequencies to give the overall SPL in dB.

ADDING AND SUBTRACTING DECIBELS

Adding decibels

As mentioned earlier in the text, calculating the SPL of two sources together is not as simple as adding their
individual decibel levels. Two people speaking at 70 dBA each are not as loud as a jet engine at 140 dBA. To
combine two decibel values, they must be converted back to pressure squared, summed, and converted
back to decibels. The mathematics may be approximated by using Figure 14.
If one sound is much louder than the other, the louder sound drowns out the softer sound, and the
combined decibel level is just the level of the louder sound. If the two sounds are equally loud, then the
combined level is 3 dB higher. More than two sources can be combined, but they must be considered two at
a time.

For example,
An unbuilt classroom is expected to have 34 dBA of mechanical system noise, a computer that generates 32
dBA of noise, and an overhead projector that generates 43 dBA. What will be the total sound pressure level
from the three noise sources?

The difference between the first two decibel values is: 34- 32=2, so add 2 dB to the higher value: 34+2=36
dBA. Then combine this with the projector noise: 43-36=7, so add 1 dB to the higher value: 43+1= 44 dBA
total from the three noise sources.

If the SPL of the teacher’s voice is 55 dBA, what is the signal-to- noise ratio in the room?

55-44= +11 dB, which is sufficient for good speech intelligibility. How much louder is the total 44 dBA than
each of the individual noise sources? Due to the response of our ears, we can just notice a difference of 3
dB. An increase of 10 dB sounds approximately twice as loud, and an increase of 20 dB sounds about four
times as loud.

Example
One machine on its own measures 84 dB(A) at a certain position. At the same position a second machine
measures 79 dB on its own. What will the effect be of measuring both noises at the same time?

Method
Difference between the two noise levels is 5 dB so the correction from the table above is 1 dB. Add this to
the higher noise level so the overall measured level for both machines running at the same time will be
(84 +1)dB = 85dB.
Subtracting Decibels

You can either use logarithmic calculators to subtract two noise levels or you can use the following table of
corrections. The table below shows the corrections for differences between noise levels up to 15 dB apart.

Difference between Correction to be

two noise levels subtracted from
(dB) higher of the levels
(dB)
0 At least 10
1 6.9
2 4.3
3 3.0
4 2.2
5 1.7
6 1.3
7 1.0
8 0.7
9 0.6
10 0.5
11 0.4
12 0.3
13 0.2
14 0.2
15 0.1

Example
When trying to establish what the level is of a piece of noisy equipment it is difficult to measure it without
all the background being present. A solution is to measure the noise levels with the background only and
then with the background and the noise source switched on and running. Subtracting the background level
from the total level will give the level of the noisy piece of equipment on its own. Total noise level is 85 dB
and the background alone is 78 dB.

Method
The difference between the total noise level and the background noise level alone is 7 dB. Therefore, the
difference to be subtracted from the higher total noise is 1 dB, which makes the true noise of the equipment
to be 84 dB on its own.
CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING

1) A mosquito's buzz is often rated with a decibel rating of 40 dB. Normal conversation is often rated
at 60 dB. How many times more intense is normal conversation compared to a mosquito's buzz?

a. 2 b. 20 c. 100 d. 200 e. 400

2) The table at the right represents the decibel level for several
sound sources. Use the table to make comparisons of the
intensities of the following sounds.

How many times more intense is the front row of a Smashin'

Pumpkins concert than ...

a. the 15th row of the same concert?

b. the average factory?
c. normal speech?
d. the library after school?
e.. the sound that most humans can just barely hear?

3) On a good night, the front row of the Twisted Sister concert would surely result in a 120 dB sound
level. An IPod produces 100 dB. How many IPods would be needed to produce the same intensity as
the front row of the ACDC concert?

COMMON ACOUSTICAL TERMINOLOGY (with ref to this unit)

1. Ambient noise: Average level of sound energy occurring within an architectural environment at a
specific time due to various noise sources in and around the space. Also referred as background
noise.
2. Reverberation Time: Amount of time at a specific frequency that a sound in an enclosed space
takes to decrease 60 decibels in level after the source sound has stopped, it may vary from ½ sec
in an ordinary living room to 12 sec in a large cathedral. The reverberation time gives a listener
the sense of the size, liveness and warmth of a room. Reverberation time increases
proportionally with the cubic volume of the room and decreases proportionally with the quantity
of sound absorbing surfaces in the room.

Suggested Reverberation times:

Purpose or Type of room Reverberation time in seconds ( 500 c/sec)

Small Room Medium room Large room
3 3 3
Under 70 m 70 m to 700 m Over 700 m3
Speech 0.75 0.75 to 1.00 1.0
School/Multipurpose 1.00 1.00 to 1.50 1.00 to 1.50
halls
Music 1.50 1.50 to 2.00 2.00 or more
3. Reflection: Hard, rigid and flat surfaces like glass, stone, bricks, concrete reflects almost all
incidental sound waves striking them, like the light rays. Convex surfaces tend to disperse and
Concave surface tend to concentrate the reflected sound wave in a room and these qualities
should be gainfully used in auditorium.
4. Absorption: Soft, porous materials like fabrics and people absorb a good deal of sound waves
hitting them. For acoustic control of an interior, material with high degree of absorption.
5. Diffusion: If the sound field is homogeneous, i.e, the sound pressure is equal everywhere in an
interior space; it means diffusion is taking place. Examples, auditorium, concert halls, radio/TV
recording studios etc, for it allows a uniform distribution of sound, enhances the natural
qualities of speech and music and prevents the occurrence of unwanted acoustical defects.
6. Refraction: When sound waves bend or are scattered around an obstacle, like a column, corner,
wall or beam, it is termed as Refraction. It is observed more in the case of low frequency sounds.