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Acoustic Fundamentals - A: Tn312 Broadcast Technology and Acoustics

1) Pitch is determined by the frequency of sound wave vibrations, with higher pitches resulting from faster vibrations. 2) Reverberation occurs when sounds bounce off surfaces, while absorption occurs when materials dampen vibrations. Reverberation leads to louder rooms while absorption creates quieter spaces. 3) Sound pressure level (SPL) objectively measures perceived loudness in decibels (dB) based on sound pressure ratios measured by microphones. SPL allows comparisons of loudness between individuals.

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42 views

Acoustic Fundamentals - A: Tn312 Broadcast Technology and Acoustics

1) Pitch is determined by the frequency of sound wave vibrations, with higher pitches resulting from faster vibrations. 2) Reverberation occurs when sounds bounce off surfaces, while absorption occurs when materials dampen vibrations. Reverberation leads to louder rooms while absorption creates quieter spaces. 3) Sound pressure level (SPL) objectively measures perceived loudness in decibels (dB) based on sound pressure ratios measured by microphones. SPL allows comparisons of loudness between individuals.

Uploaded by

loloy
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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TN312 BROADCAST TECHNOLOGY AND ACOUSTICS

ACOUSTIC FUNDAMENTALS - A
Week 2– Pitch, SPL, Loudness vs Intensity

WHAT IS PITCH?
➢ It is the relative highness or lowness of a tone as perceived by the
ear, which depends on the number of vibrations per second produced
by the vocal cords. (This is relative to the definition of pitch in
speech)

Consider this: On a guitar, a big heavy string will vibrate slowly and
create a low sound or pitch. A thinner lighter string will vibrate faster
and create a high sound or pitch.

There are two main ways to control acoustics:

Reverberation - reverberation is how sounds bounce off things.


Typically, a "loud" room would be one where the sound is reverberating
off the walls and floors. Some materials echo sounds better than others.
For example, a tile floor will reverberate a sound better than a carpeted
floor (which would absorb the sound). Note: Reverberation will be
discussed further in the next module.

Absorption - The opposite of reverberation, items that absorb sound do


not reflect the vibrations. Soft items such as carpet and curtains will help
to absorb sound and make a room quieter.

The Doppler Effect

If you are standing still and a car drives past you, the frequency of the
sound will change as the car passes you. This is called the Doppler
Effect. The sound pitch will be higher as the car is coming towards you
and then lower as the car moves away. The sound the car is producing is
not changing. Its frequency is the same. However, as the car is traveling
towards you the speed of the car is causing the sound waves to hit your
ear faster or at a higher frequency than the car is making them. Once the
car passes you, the sound waves are reaching your ear at a lower
frequency. The Doppler Effect is named for scientist Christian Doppler
who discovered it in 1842.

What is Sound Pressure (Pa)?


➢ Sound Pressure is the sound force (N) acting on the surface area (m2)
perpendicular to the direction of the sound.

• the SI-unit for sound pressure is Pa or N/m2


➢ Sound is usually measured with microphones responding
proportionally to the sound pressure. The power in a sound
wave goes as the square of the pressure. (Similarly, electrical power
goes as the square of the voltage.) The log of the square of x is just 2
log x, so this introduces a factor of 2 when we convert to decibels for
pressures.

What is sound pressure level (SPL)?

➢ The sound level (on a basic level - how loud something is) can be
perceived differently by different people so we need to have a means
to get an objective measurement of sound level expressed in
numerical terms. This is defined as Sound Pressure Level (SPL) and
is quite a complex thing to get to grips with. To understand what SPL
is, we must first understand what 'Sound Pressure' is. Sound pressure
(p) is the average variation in atmospheric pressure caused by the
sound. The unit of pressure measurement is pascal (Pa) Note: The
term 'sound pressure' may be preceded by other noise measurement
terms such as ‘instantaneous’, ‘maximum’, and ‘peak’ (e.g. peak
sound pressure).
➢ Sound pressure level (SPL) is the pressure level of a sound, measured
in decibels (dB). It is equal to 20 x the Log10 of the ratio of the Root
Mean Square (RMS) of sound pressure to the reference of sound
pressure (the reference sound pressure in air is 2 x 10-5 N/m2, or
0,0002 Pa). Or, in other words is the ratio of the absolute sound
pressure against a reference level of sound in the air.
How is it measured?

➢ The unit measure of SPL is decibels (dB). It


is measured with a Sound Pressure Level Meter.
Sound enters the meter through a microphone, and
then the meter evaluates the sound values by
converting them into electrical information and
the measurement values in decibels are displayed.
An SPL Meter is generally handheld, mobile and
lightweight, and is manufactured in line with
international standards such as IEC 61672 and the
likes. The meters will quickly take measurements
of noise level and allow the user to identify
sources or situations where noise might be an issue either for
occupational (noise at work) reasons, for environmental pollution or
for noisy neighbor disputes.

The relationship between loudness and intensity


➢ The loudness of an auditory stimulus is a psychological, not physical
attribute of the stimulus. The physical attribute of sound that is most
closely correlated with loudness is intensity. So, loudness is the
listener's subjective description of the intensity of the stimulus. As
you know, we are not equally sensitive to sounds of all frequencies.
So perceived loudness of a tone, in fact, depends on frequency as
well as intensity. Two sounds can have the same physical sound
pressure levels but if they are of different frequencies, they are often
perceived as having different loudness.
➢ How do we measure loudness? To do so, we have to relate a
subjective quality such as loudness to a physical quantity such as
sound pressure level. The term that is used to describe or measure the
loudness of a signal is known as a phon.
Here is a simple scenario to better understand the relationship between
loudness and intensity:

Discussion:
The person on the left creates sound waves from his mouth. The waves
released by the said person has only one intensity. However, as these
waves pass through both ears of persons A and B, each of them
individually measures how loud the received sound is. Meaning, person
A might hear the sound differently with how person B hears the message
brought by the waves involved.

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