Sound

1
Human Ear
• The ear is a sensitive organ of the human body. It is mainly involved with
detecting, transmitting and transducing sound and maintaining a sense of
balance is another important function of the human ear. Human ear includes:

• The outer ear or the visible part of the ear is called the pinna.
• Pinna collects sound from the surroundings.
• Sound passes through a tube called an auditory canal.
• Eardrum (tympanic membrane) vibrates in response to incident
sound waves.
• Vibrations are amplified and transmitted further by three bones
hammer, anvil and stirrup in the middle ear to the inner ear.
• In the inner ear, cochlea converts pressure signals into electrical
signals.
• Electrical signals are transmitted by the auditory nerve to the
brain for interpretation.
What is sound?
• Sound is created when something vibrates and sends
waves of energy (vibration) into our ears. The vibrations
travel through the air or another medium (solid, liquid or
gas) to the ear. The stronger the vibrations, the louder
the sound.
• Sound needs a medium to propagate. The matter or
material through which sound propagates is called a
medium. The sound wave propagates by compressions and
rarefactions of particles in a medium.
Difference Between Mechanical and Electro magnetic wave:
Mechanical Wave
•A mechanical wave is a wave that is an oscillation of matter
and is responsible for the transfer of energy through a medium.

Electromagnetic Wave
Electromagnetic waves do not need a medium to travel. All
electromagnetic waves travel through a vacuum
longitudinal wave:
transverse wave:
• Transverse waves are always characterized by particle
motion being perpendicular to wave motion.
• longitudinal wave is a wave in which particles of the medium
move in a direction parallel to the direction that
the wave moves.
Type of Sound
• Infrasonic Sound

• Audible Sound

• Ultrasonic Sound
Applications of Ultrasound
• (i) Scanning images of human organs
• (ii) Detecting cracks in metal blocks
• (iii) Cleaning parts that are hard to reach
• (iv) Navigating, communicating or detecting objects on or under the
surface of the water (SONAR).
SONAR – Sound Navigation And Ranging.
• It is a technique that uses sound or ultrasonic waves to measure
distance. The human range of hearing is 20Hz- 20kHz.

• Sonar consists of a transmitter and detector mounted on a boat or

ship. The transmitter sends ultrasonic sound waves to the seabed
which gets reflected back and picked up by the detector. Knowing
the speed of sound in water, distance can be measured using:
2d=v×t. This method is called echo-location or echo ranging.
Characteristics of Sound
• Intensity

• Loudness

• Pitch

• Doppler Effect
 Intensity
• Higher force → higher amplitude → louder sound
• The amount of sound energy flowing per unit time through a unit area is
called the intensity of sound.
Pitch and loudness of Sound
• Pitch: It represents shrillness or flatness of sound.
• It depends on the frequency of vibration. Higher the frequency of sound wave,
the higher will be the pitch of sound and vice-versa.

• Loudness: It is a measure of the sound energy reaching the ear per second.
• It depends on the amplitude of the sound wave.
• It is measured in decibel ‘dB’.
Tone and Note
• Tone: A pure sound of single frequency is called tone.
• Note: An impure sound produced by mixture of many frequencies is called
a note. For example: A musical note has tones of various frequencies.
Reflection of sound
• When sound waves strike a surface, they return back into the same
medium. This phenomenon is called reflection.
• Megaphone, loudspeakers, bulb horns, musical instruments like
trumpets, shehnais etc. are designed to send sound by multiple
reflections in a particular direction due to which the amplitude of
sound waves adds up to increase loudness of sound.
• Stethoscope which is used by doctors to listen to the sounds from
the human body, also works on principle of multiple reflections of
sound. Here, sound of heartbeat reaches the doctor's ears by
multiple reflections.
Echo
• The phenomenon where a sound produced is heard again due to
reflection is called an echo.
• E.g: Clapping or shouting near a tall building or a mountain.

• To hear distinct echo sound, the time interval between original and
reflected sound must be at least 0.1s. As sound persists in our brain
for about 0.1s. Minimum distance for obstruction or reflective
surface to hear an echo should be 17.2 m. Multiple echoes can be
heard due to multiple reflections.
Doppler’s effect
• If either the source of sound or observer is moving, then there will
be a change in frequency and wavelength for the observer. The
frequency will be higher when the observer moves towards the
source and it decreases when the observer moves away from the
source.

• Example: If one is standing on a street corner and an ambulance

approaches with its siren blaring, the sound of the siren steadily
gains in pitch as it comes closer and then, as it passes, the pitch
suddenly lowers.
Speed of Sound
Speed of sound depends on:
• Elasticity of Material
• Temperature
• Density
• Speed of sound: Solids > Liquids > Gases

• Speed of sound in air = 331 m/s at 00C and 344 m/s at 22∘ C

• When a source emits sound with a speed greater than the

speed of sound in air, it creates a sonic boom which produces
shockwaves with lots of energy. They produce a very loud noise
which is enough to shatter glass and damage buildings.
Questions
• Name the characteristic of the sound which distinguishes a sharp sound from a grave or
dull sound?

A. Intensity
B. Echo
C. Pitch
D. Resonance
Thank you
A biotechnique in which ultrasonic sound is used-
(a) Sonography
(b) E.C.G
(c) E.E.G
(d) X-ray
Ultrasonics are sound waves of frequency
(a) Greater than 20,000 Hz
(b) Less than 10,000 Hz
(c) Equal to 1000 Hz
(d) None of these