CHARACTERISTICS OF SOUND AND ACOUSTICS

Nature of Sound
Sound is a longitudinal wave motion consisting of a train of Compression and rarefaction travelling in a medium. When these waves strike the eardrum these are converted into signals which are carried to the brain by the auditory nerves and are finally interpreted into what we call Sound. It has all characteristics of a wave as explained below1) Amplitude Defined as the intensity of Compression & Maximum Compression rarefaction produced in a medium. 2) Frequency (f) Defined as the number of Successive Zero pressure Line Time compression and rarefaction occurring in one second, and is Wavelength () expressed in Hertz (Hz). 3) Time Period-Time taken in completing one cycle, given byMaximum rarefaction (Figure-1) T= 1/f second 4) Phase-It indicates the state of motion at a particular instant relative to some reference, expressed in terms of angle, one complete cycle is equal to the phase difference of 360 degrees. In terms of wavelength () & time (T), phase difference of 90O can be expressed as, /4 or T/4. 5) Velocity-It is the distance travelled by the sound wave in one second, equal to 344 metres/ second at 20O C, and 332 metres / second at 0OC.The relation between the velocity and temperature is given by. Where, V1= velocity at T1 degree Kelvin V =V (T /T )
2 1 2 1

Amplitude

V2= velocity at T2 degree Kelvin

Pressure and intensity of Sound waves - Sound waves produce variation of pressure in the medium in the form of compressions and rarefactions in quick successions. Sound pressure variation is therefore represented by newton per square metre (N/m2), or pascal (Pa). In terms of micro-bar (dyne per Sq cm) one Pa is equal to ten micro-bars. In terms of energy, intensity of sound waves is defined as the average rate of flow of sound energy through cross sectional area of one square metre at right angles to the direction of motion. It is represented by watt per square metre (W/m2).

When sound pressure is 20X10-6 Pa, it gives just audible sound and is called Threshold of hearing. This much sound pressure pertains to 1 pico-

The Decibel-The decibel (dB) is often used in electrical & acoustic measurements. It is a number that represents a ratio of two values of a quantity such as voltage in logarithmic ratio. It is used to scale a large measurement range down to a smaller watt/m2 of sound intensity. The range. The form of the decibel relationship for voltage is: pressure level at which pain is felt is 63 dB = 20 x log(V1/V2)-where 20 is a Pa of intensity 10 watt/ m2 This constant,V1 & V2 are voltages, and log is logarithm base 10. intensity is called threshold of pain. For powers, P1&P2, dB=10log P1/ P2. Examples: 1) The relationship in decibels All sound pressure and intensities lie between 100 volts & 1 volt. dB = 20 x log(100/1) = 20 x log(100), between the threshold of hearing and or dB = 20 x 2 (the log of 100 is 2) = 40 threshold of pain. That is, 100 volts is 40dB greater than 1 volt. 2) What is the relationship in decibels Examplesbetween 0.001 volt and 1 volt? Type of sound Pa or micro-bar dB = 20 x log(0.001/1) = 20 x log(0.001) = 20 x (-3) = - 60 W/m2 (dB) over N/m2That is, 0.001 volt is 60dB less that 1 volt. Similarly: #If one voltage is equal to the other they are 0dB different. T.O.H. # If one voltage is twice the other they are 6dB different. 1)Rustle of leaves 63X10 - 6 630X10 - 6 #10 one voltage is ten times the other they If are 20dB different.

-11

10 dB

2)Whisper

20X10 - 5

200X10 - 5

10 -10

20 dB
630X10 - 4

3)Ordinary
10 -7

63X10 - 4

Sound & Sensitivity of human-ear: a) Human 74 very sensitive 1.0 0.25X10 - 4 ear is dB 5)Thunderto sound intensity & can detect sound as low as 0.1 pW/m2 (or 10 dB below the threshold of hearing). 2 2.0 b) The ear cannot distinguish dB 20 10 100 difference of intensity of less than 1 dB between two sounds. 6)Threshold 63 c) Minimum level which 630 be comfortably detected over threshold of can hearing is 3 db for speech or music. 10 130 dB of pain d) The ear possesses characteristics of masking that is the louder sound reaching the ear can suppress the weaker sound. e) The ear judges direction of sound from the first received even if it is weaker.

* (T.O.H. = Threshold of Hearing) 4)Normal speech 0.1

50 dB conversation

Loudness & Phon-Loudness is defined as the intensity of sound as judged by the ear. It needs higher intensity at low frequencies than at high frequencies to impart same sensation of loudness. The intensity of 60 dB at 40 Hz and of 0 dB at 1000 Hz imparts the same loudness. The intensity in dB with reference to Threshold of hearing as perceived by the ear at 1000 Hz is called phon (P). Frequency If it is 0 dB then loudness is 0 phon, if it (Figure-2) Fletcher-Munson Curves for loudness is 40 dB then loudness is 40 phon. vs. Frequency Sone: It is found that a 10 dB increase in sound level corresponds approximately to a perceived doubling of loudness. One sone is defined as the loudness expressed by a person listening to a 1000 Hz tone of 40 phon loudness level. Similarly 50 phons would have a loudness of 2 sones, 60 phons would be 4 sones, etc. The relation between sone (L) and Phon (P) is given by10logL= (P - 40) log2 Frequency range for Speech: Audible frequencies range from 16Hz to 20000 Hz. For satisfactory transmission of speech two factors are very important. 1) Intelligibility- It is defined Curves (a)&(b) Curves (c)&(d) 100 (c) 100 as the clearness of ones speech determined (a) 90 90 through the test of articulation. The person 80 80 under test is made to speak syllables in 70 70 random order, which is recorded and heard 60 60 50 by a group of persons with normal hearing. 50 40 40 The articulation efficiency should be 30 30 about 90% for broadcast purpose & 80% 20 20 for telephone speech. It is found that (b) 10 (d) 10 Intelligibility is mostly contained in the high 0 0 0 1 2 3 frequency components (1.5 to 2.5 KHz) of (Figure-3) Cut-off 4 5 KHz the speech. (Figure-3) (a) Articulation efficiency as a function of
Articulation efficiency Sound energy (% of (%)

2) Energy-It is found that about 80% upper cut-off frequency. (b) Articulation of total energy is transmitted, even though efficiency as a function of lower cut-off all frequencies above 1 KHz are suppressed. frequency. (c) Sound energy as a function of Similarly suppressing all frequencies below 1 KHz reduces the energy (d) Sound transmitted upper cut-off frequency. to 15 %( Fig-3).The energy in speech is contained mostly in the low frequencies. energy as a function of lower cut-off Based on these results 300-3400 Hz for telephone speech and 80-8000 Hz for frequency. entertainment speech have been considered most adequate.

Frequency

total)

Overtones and Timbre: Sound waves produced by Speech and musical instruments are not pure sine waves, but are complex waves consisting not only the fundamental frequencies (tones) but also of their harmonics, and other frequencies, called overtones. The proportion of tones & overtones present in the sound that helps us to identify any particular voice is called Timbre. Some examples of fundamental frequencies and their overtones are given below: Range of fundamental Overall frequency (voice/Instrument) frequencies in Hz. range including overtones in Hz. 1) Men 110 - 1000 110 8000 2) Women 220 - 1500 220 10000 3) Harmonium 150 1200 150 - 16000 4) Flute 170 2200 170 - 15000 5) Violin 180 2500 180 - 15000 Intervals: It is defined as the ratio of two frequencies. Example-Interval of 400Hz &100Hz is 4. Octaves: An interval of 1:2is called an OCTAVE. Example: One octave of 200 Hz will be 400 Hz or one octave of 100 Hz will be 200 Hz. Two octaves of 100Hz will be 400 Hz. Or mathematically: Number of Octaves for two frequencies f1& f2 = log2 [f2/f1]. Harmonics: It is an integer ratio between two frequencies. Harmonics are always integral multiple of the fundamental frequencies. Example: With respect to 100 Hz, a frequency of 200 Hz will be 2nd harmonic, and a frequency of 400 Hz will be 4th harmonic. Pitch: It generally represents the perceived fundamental frequency of a sound. Sound waves with a longer wavelength don't arrive at the ear, as often (frequently) as the shorter waves. The shorter the wavelength, the higher the frequency, and the higher the pitch, of the sound. In other words, short waves sound high; long waves sound low.
and Pitch

Sound Source

(Figure-4)

Wavelength,

Frequency,

Acoustic Reverberation. The term acoustics has been derived from the Greek word akoustos, meaning hearing. It is the area of science devoted to the study of the production, transmission, reception, and effect of sound. In the field of broadcasting, auditoriums and broadcast studios are the originating place of the program to be broadcast live, or recorded for future use. Hence proper care should be taken in their designing and construction. Therefore certain special treatments called Acoustic Treatment are needed to be given to the broadcast studios and auditoriums to preserve the originality of the sound along with extending maximum pleasure to the listener. The conditions and designing feature of a broadcast studio or an auditorium has been discussed below. Reverberation: As soon as the sound waves originate from its source, suffers reflection, refraction, diffraction & absorption. In an auditorium or studio the sound is Source Receive received directly from the source as S R well as sound reflected from walls, floor, ceiling, etc. The sound persists for a noticeable time even after the original sound stops. It fades away gradually. The persistence of sound, caused due to repeated reflection is (Figure-5) Multiple reflections of called reverberation. Eliminating reverberation Sound waves. Sound level of source completely will result in a lifeless and Steady un-natural sound. Hence all natural sound in a hall or studio should Growth include some proportion of reverberation. Decay Reverberation Time(R/T): The time taken for sound energy in a room to drop to 10-6 times (one millionth) of its initial value, or 60 dB below its original value.
Sound level
a b c

Time

(Figure-6)

Growth & decay of sound

in an enclosure

Some typical values of reverberation time (R/T) are: 1) Big concert hall : 2.0 second, 4) TV Studio : 0.5 second 2) Conference room : 0.5 second 5) Speech studios : 0.3 second, 3) Lecture halls : 0.3 second, 6) Music hall : 0.8 second.

 Factors effecting Reverberation time:

1) 2) 3) 4) Volume of the room. Surface area of the room. Absorption coefficient of the surface area. Velocity and wavelength of the sound. Based upon the above factors Prof.W.C Sabine of Harvard University derived a formula for reverberation time T in seconds given by: R/T = 55.3 Where,

___________

(1)

c = velocity of sound = 344 m/sec or 1120 ft/sec. V= Volume of the room. a = Total absorption. ________ (2) (In FPS unit) &, ________ (3) (In MKS unit)

Therefore, R/T = R/T =

The Total absorption a depends upon the surface area of each surface and its absorption coefficient, given by equation: a = S or, a= 1S1+ 2S2+ --- nSn __________ (4) Where, 1, 2 --- are the absorption coefficients of surface areas S1, S2-defined as the ratio between energy absorbed by unit surface area to the total energy received by unit surface area. Some typical values of absorption coefficients(for 500 Hz frequency) are: 1) Open window -------------------------- 1 2) Carpets (1cm thick ) ------------------------0.25 3)Curtain ---------------------- 0.15 4)Wooden chair ----------------------------- 0.17 5)Acoustics tiles ----------------------------- 0.55 6)Door-wood --------------------------- 0.05 7) Wooden floor ---------------------------- 0.09 8) Glass panes ------------------------- 0.25 9)Audience ------------------------- 0.84 Based upon the above values of absorption coefficients and from the known values of surface-areas of each items present in room, the total absorption including audience can be calculated.

Acoustical Design of Studios & Auditoriums: While designing & constructing a broadcast-studio or auditorium the following aspects should be incorporated. 1) Reverberation Time(R/T): The acoustical Design of a studio depends upon its utilization. The reverberation Time(R/T) for a lecture hall or a speech studio should be very low. Similarly for a concert hall the R/T should be 1 to 2 seconds. For achieving proper R/T, the absorption of the studio should be satisfactory with walls and ceilings covered with proper absorbents like perforated boards, felts, asbestos etc. The floor should have matting and carpets. Furthermore the absorbing material should not be concentrated in one area but should be placed in random but not near the speaker or performer. 2) Sound Insulation. Insulation means preventing unwanted sound, originating from other place, from entering the studio. This is done by using proper absorbing and sound insulating materials. Unwanted sound /noise in a studio set-up may originate from the following. Outside the building. Inside the studio itself. Outside the studio but within the building. a) Unwanted sound from outside the building: Caused due to presence of airport, busy road or railway-traffic in the nearby vicinity of the studio. This can be minimised by providing sufficient set-back distance between the studio and the noise source. b) Unwanted sound from inside the studio itself: Caused due to airflow in air-conditioning set-up, noise from fluorescent lights, cooling fans etc. Therefore the airflow in air-conditioning set-up should have slow diffusion and the fluorescent lights should have the ballast chokes mounted separately outside the studio. c) Due to air-conditioning plants, diesel generator and lift: AC plants and diesel generator can transfer structural borne noise as well as air borne noise to the studios. The structural borne noise is avoided by locating them in separate blocks with a structural isolation gap of 75 mm filled with damping materials such as asphalt. Only flexible connections are used for linking these blocks with studio for running electrical cables, duct etc. These plants are mounted on vibration isolation pads. The water pipes for condenser cooling are also isolated from the walls with flexible packing materials to avoid transmission of vibration .Also the main supply and return ducts from the plants are connected to the studio ducts through flexible canvass connection and insulated internally with sound absorbing materials e.g. glass wool to avoid airborne noise.