Acoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals

with the study of sound, ultrasound and

infrasound (all mechanical waves in gases,
liquids, and solids).

Acoustician - a scientist who works in the field of

acoustics

Acoustical engineering- the application of acoustics

in technology
The word "acoustic" is derived from the ancient
Greek word ακουστός, meaning able to be heard.

The Latin synonym is "sonic".

After acousticians had extended their studies to
frequencies above and below the audible range, it
became conventional to identify these frequency
ranges as "ultrasonic" and "infrasonic"
respectively, while letting the word "acoustic"
refer to the entire frequency range without limit.
HISTORY OF ACOUSTICS

Early research in acoustics

 The science of acoustics had its beginnings in the
Greek and Roman cultures between the 6th
century BCE and 1st century BCE.

 It began with music, which had been practiced as

an art for thousands of years, but was not
evidently studied in a scientific manner until
Pythagoras took an interest in the nature of
musical intervals.
 Pythagoras wanted to know why some intervals
seemed more beautiful than others, and he found
answers in terms of numerical ratios.
 The fundamental and the first 6 overtones of a
vibrating string. Pythagoras was the first to study
this phenomenon
 Aristotle (384-322 BC) understood that sound
consisted of contractions and expansions of the
air "falling upon and striking the air which is next
to it...” a very good expression of the nature of
wave motion.

 In about 20 BC, the Roman architect and engineer

Vitruvius wrote a treatise on the acoustical
properties of theatres including discussion of
interference, echoes, and reverberation -the
beginnings of architectural acoustics.
 The physical understanding of acoustical
processes advanced rapidly during and after the
Scientific Revolution.

 Galileo (1564-1642) and Mersenne (1588-1648)

independently discovered the complete laws of
vibrating strings (completing what Pythagoras
had started 2000 years earlier).

 Galileo wrote "Waves are produced by the

vibrations of a sonorous body, which spread
through the air, bringing to the tympanum of the
ear a stimulus which the mind interprets as
 sound", a remarkable statement that points to the
beginnings of physiological and psychological
acoustics.

 Experimental measurements of the speed of

sound in air were carried out successfully
between 1630 and 1680 by a number of
investigators, prominently Mersenne.

 Newton(1642-1727) derived the relationship for

wave velocity in solids, a cornerstone of physical
acoustics (Principia, 1687).
The Age of Enlightenment and onward

 In the nineteenth century the giants of acoustics

were Helmholtzin Germany, who consolidated the
field of physiological acoustics, and Lord
Rayleighin England, who combined the previous
knowledge with his own copious contributions to
the field in his monumental work "The Theory of
Sound".

 Wheatstone, Ohm, and Henry developed the

analog between electricity and acoustics.
The Age of Enlightenment and onward

 The twentieth century saw a burgeoning of

technological applications of the large body of
scientific knowledge that was by then in place.
The first such application was Sabine’s
groundbreaking work in architectural acoustics,
and many others followed.

 Underwater acoustics was used for detecting

submarines in the World War I.
FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS OF ACOUSTICS
 The study of acoustics revolves around the
generation, propagation and reception of
mechanical waves and vibrations.

 The central stage in the acoustical process is wave

propagation.
 In fluids, sound propagates primarily as a
pressure wave.
 In solids, mechanical waves can take many forms
including longitudinal waves, transverse waves
and surface waves.
DIVISIONS OF ACOUSTICS

A. Physical acoustics
 Aeroacoustics
 General linear acoustics
 Nonlinear acoustics
 Structural acoustics and vibration
 Underwater sound
DIVISIONS OF ACOUSTICS

B. Biological acoustics
 Bioacoustics
 Musical acoustics
 Physiological acoustics
 Psychoacoustics
 Speech communication (production; perception;
processing and communication systems)
DIVISIONS OF ACOUSTICS

C. Acoustical engineering
 Acoustic measurements and instrumentation
 Acoustic signal processing
 Architectural acoustics
 Environmental acoustics
 Transduction
 Ultrasonics
 Room Acoustics
Sound is vibration transmitted through a solid,
liquid, or gas; particularly, sound means those
vibrations composed of frequencies capable of
being detected by ears.
PHYSICS OF SOUND
 The mechanical vibrations that can be interpreted
as sound are able to travel through all forms of
matter: gases, liquids, solids, and plasmas.

 The matter that supports the sound is called the

medium.

 Sound cannot travel through vacuum.

SOUND WAVE PROPERTIES AND CHARACTERISTICS

 Sound waves are characterized by the generic

properties of waves, which are frequency,
wavelength, period, amplitude, intensity, speed,
and direction (sometimes speed and direction are
combined as a velocity vector, or wavelength and
direction are combined as a wave vector).

 Transverse waves, also known as shear waves,

have an additional property of polarization.
SOUND WAVE PROPERTIES AND CHARACTERISTICS

 Whenever the pitch of the sound wave is affected

by some kind of change, the distance between the
sound wave maxima also changes, resulting in a
change of frequency.

 When the loudness of a sound wave changes, so

does the amount of compression in airwave that
is travelling through it, which in turn can be
defined as amplitude.
SPEED OF SOUND

 In dry air at 20°C (68°F), the speed of sound is

343 m/s (1235 km/h, or 770 mph, or 1129 ft/s,
or approximately 5 seconds per mile).

 Sound travels faster in liquids and non-porous

solids than it does in air.
 General formula:
o In general, the speed of sound 𝑐 is given by
𝑪
𝒄=√
𝝆

o Where 𝑪 is a coefficient of stiffness and 𝝆 is the

density

o Thus the speed of sound increases with the

stiffness of the material, and decreases with the
density.
 Practical formula for dry air

o The approximate speed of sound in dry (0%

humidity) air, in meters per second (𝒎/𝒔) at
temperatures near 𝟎°𝑪, can be calculated from:

𝒎
𝒄𝒂𝒊𝒓 = [𝟑𝟑𝟏. 𝟑 + (𝟎. 𝟔𝟎𝟔 × 𝝑)]
𝒔

o Where 𝝑 is the temperature in degrees Celsius

(°𝑪).
 Practical formula for dry air

o This equation is derived from the first two terms

of the Taylor expansion of the following much
more accurate equation:
𝝑 𝒎
𝒄𝒂𝒊𝒓 = 𝟑𝟑𝟏. 𝟑√𝟏 +
𝟐𝟕𝟑. 𝟏𝟓 𝒔
 Speed in solids
o In a solid, there is a non-zero stiffness both for
volumetric and shear deformations.

o A sound wave generating volumetric

deformations is called longitudinal and a
transversal wave generates shear deformations

o The velocities of these two different sound waves

can be calculated in isotropic solids by:
𝑬 𝑮
𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 = √ 𝒄𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔 = √
𝝆 𝝆
where 𝑬 is Young's modulus, 𝑮 is Shear modulus
and 𝝆(rho) is density
 Speed in solids

o Thus in steel the speed of sound is approximately

𝟓, 𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝒎/𝒔.

o In beryllium, a substance with relatively high

stiffness and low density the speed of sound is
𝟏𝟐, 𝟖𝟕𝟎 𝒎/𝒔.

o In a solid rod (with thickness much smaller than

the wavelength) only longitudinal waves occur.
 Speed in liquids
o In a fluid the only non-zero stiffness is to
volumetric deformation (a fluid does not sustain
shear forces).

o Hence the speed of sound in a fluid is given by

𝑲
𝒄𝒇𝒍𝒖𝒊𝒅 =√
𝝆
where 𝑲 is the bulk modulus of the fluid
SOUND MEASUREMENTS
SOUND PRESSURE

 is the local pressure deviation from the ambient

(average, or equilibrium) pressure caused by a
sound wave.

 Sound pressure can be measured using a

microphone in air and a hydrophone in water.

 The SI unit for sound pressure is the pascal

(symbol: Pa).
SOUND PRESSURE

 The sound pressure deviation 𝒑 is

𝑭
𝒑=
𝑨
where 𝑭 is the force, and A is the area.

 The entire pressure p total is

𝒑𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 = 𝒑𝟎 + 𝒑

Where 𝒑𝟎 is the local ambient pressure, and 𝒑 is the

sound pressure deviation.
SOUND PRESSURE LEVEL (SPL)

or sound level 𝑳𝒑 is a logarithmic measure of the

rms sound pressure of a sound relative to a
reference value. It is measured in decibel (dB).
𝒑𝟐𝒓𝒎𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒎𝒔
𝑳𝒑 = 𝟏𝟎 𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝟏𝟎 𝟐 = 𝟐𝟎 𝒍𝒐𝒈𝟏𝟎
𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒇 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒇

 where 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒇 is the reference sound pressure and

𝒑𝒓𝒎𝒔 is the rms sound pressure being measure

 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒇 = 𝟐. 𝟐 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟓 𝑷𝒂
PARTICLE VELOCITY LEVEL

 The particle velocity level or the sound velocity

level tells the ratio of a sound incidence in
comparison to a reference level of 0 dB in a
medium, mostly air.

 It shows the ratio of the particle velocity 𝒗𝟏 and

the particle velocity 𝒗𝟎 . 𝑼𝒏𝒊𝒕: 𝒅𝑩 − 𝑺𝑽𝑳
𝒗𝟏
𝑳𝒗 = 𝟐𝟎 𝒍𝒐𝒈𝟏𝟎
𝒗𝟎
 𝒗𝟎 = 𝟓 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟖 𝒎/𝒔

 The particle velocity level has the letter "𝑳𝒗 ".

PARTICLE VELOCITY LEVEL

 The unit of the particle velocity level is named

"𝒅𝑩".

 Sound particle velocity 𝒗 should not be confused

with Sound velocity 𝒄.
SOUND INTENSITY

The sound intensity, I, (acoustic intensity) is defined

as the sound power Pac per unit area A.

 Sound intensity level,𝑳𝑰 , is the magnitude of

sound intensity, expressed in logarithmic units
(decibels). Unit: 𝒅𝑩 − 𝑺𝑰𝑳
|𝑰|
𝑳𝒑 = 𝟏𝟎 𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝟏𝟎
𝑰𝟎
 where 𝑰𝟎 is the reference intensity, 𝟏𝟎−𝟏𝟐 𝑾/𝒎𝟐

 Sound intensity is not the same physical quantity

as sound pressure.
SOUND INTENSITY

 Hearing is directly sensitive to sound pressure

which is related to sound intensity.

 In stereo the level differences have been called

"intensity" differences, but sound intensity is a
specifically defined quantity and cannot be
sensed by a simple microphone, nor would it be
valuable in music recording if it could.
SOUND INTENSITY LEVEL
Sound intensity level or acoustic intensity level is a
logarithmic measure of the sound intensity in
comparison to the reference level of 0 dB
(decibels).
 The measure of a ratio of two sound intensities is
𝑱𝟏
𝑳𝑱 = 𝟏𝟎 𝒍𝒐𝒈𝟏𝟎
𝑱𝟎

 where 𝑱𝟏 and 𝑱𝟎 are the intensities.

SOUND INTENSITY LEVEL

 If 𝑱𝟎 is the standard reference sound intensity,

where

−𝟏𝟐
𝑾
𝑱𝟎 = 𝟏𝟎
𝒎𝟐

(W = watt), then instead of "dB" we use "dB SIL".

(SIL = sound intensity level).
SOUND POWER

Sound power or acoustic power 𝑷𝒂𝒄 is a measure of

sonic energy 𝑬 per time 𝒕 unit.
 It is measured in watts, or sound intensity 𝑰 times
area 𝑨:
𝑷𝒂𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 = 𝑰 × 𝑨

 The measure of a ratio of two sound powers is

𝑷𝟏
𝑳𝒘 = 𝟏𝟎 𝒍𝒐𝒈𝟏𝟎
𝑷𝟎
Where 𝑷𝟏 , 𝑷𝟎 are the sound powers.
SOUND POWER

 The sound power level PWL, LW, or LPac of a

source is expressed in decibels (dB) and is equal
to 10 times the logarithm to the base 10 of the
ratio of the sound power of the source to a
reference sound power. It is thus a logarithmic
measure.
 The reference sound power in air is normally
taken to be 𝟏𝟎−𝟏𝟐 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒕 = 𝟎 𝒅𝑩 𝑺𝑾𝑳.
 Sound power is neither room dependent nor
distance dependent. Sound power belongs strictly
to the sound source.
SOUND POWER LEVEL

Sound power level or acoustic power level is a

logarithmic measure of the sound power in
comparison to a specified reference level.
 The measure of a ratio of two sound powers is
𝑾𝟏
𝑳𝒘 = 𝟏𝟎 𝒍𝒐𝒈𝟏𝟎
𝑾𝟎
Where 𝑾𝟏 , 𝑾𝟎 are the powers.

 The sound power level is given the symbol 𝑳𝒘 or

𝑺𝑾𝑳 and is measured in "dBW", which stands for
decibel with the suffix for watts. Decibels are
dimensionless.
SOUND POWER LEVEL

 SPL stands for sound pressure level, and is not the

same thing. If an amount of sound power at a
particular frequency produces a particular sound
pressure level 𝒙, the same amount of power at
half the frequency will produce twice the
pressure level.

 If 𝑾𝟎 is the standard reference sound power,

where
𝑾𝟎 = 𝟏𝟎−𝟏𝟐 𝑾
 (W = watt), then instead of "dB", dB SWL is used.
(SWL = sound power level).