Sound Flashcards
Acoustics
Acoustics is the science of sound and of its effects on people.
Sound is
a pressure wave formed from pulses of alternating high and low air pressure.
Condensation is
a region in a sound wave in which the sound medium is denser than normal.
Decibel (dB) is
the unit used to measure the intensity of a sound. A 3,000-hertz tone of 0 dB is the softest sound that a normal human ear can hear.
Frequency of a sound is
the number of sound waves that pass a given point each second.
Hertz is
the unit used to measure frequency of sound waves. One hertz equals one cycle (vibration, or sound wave) per second.
Intensity of a sound is
a measure of the power of its waves.
Loudness refers to
how strong a sound seems when we hear it.
Noise is
a sound that is unpleasant, annoying, and distracting.
Pitch is
the degree of highness or lowness of a sound as we hear it.
Rarefaction is
a region in a sound wave in which the density of the sound medium is less than normal.
Resonance frequency is
the frequency at which an object would vibrate naturally if disturbed.
Sound medium is.
a substance in which sound waves travel. Air, for example, is a sound medium.
Sound quality, also called timbre, is
is a characteristic of musical sounds. Sound quality distinguishes between notes of the same frequency and intensity that are produced by different musical instruments.
Ultrasound is
sound with frequencies above the range of human hearing—that is, above 20,000 hertz.
Wavelength is
the distance between any point on a wave and the corresponding point on the next wave.
Technically, sound is defined as
a mechanical disturbance traveling through an elastic medium—a material that tends to return to its original condition after being deformed.
Why does sound need air to travel?
It does not. The medium need not be air; metal, wood, stone, glass, water, and many other substances conduct sound, many of them better than air.
