A COU ST IC S

• ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS MAY BE DEFINED AS THE TECHNOLOGY OF DESIGNING SPACES,

STRUCTURES, AND MECHANICAL SYSTEMS TO MEET HEARING NEEDS. WITH PROPER DESIGN, "WANTED"
SOUNDS CAN BE HEARD PROPERLY AND "UNWANTED" SOUNDS OR "NOISE", CAN BE ATTENUATED TO THE
POINT WHERE IT DOES NOT CAUSE ANNOYANCE.
WHAT IS SOUND?
• SOUND IS A PHYSICAL WAVE, OR A MECHANICAL VIBRATION. OR SIMPLY A SERIES OF PRESSURE
VARIATIONS, IN AN ELASTIC MEDIUM. FOR AIRBORNE SOUND, THE MEDIUM IS AIR. FOR STRUCTURE-
BORNE SOUND THE MEDIUM IS CONCRETE, STEEL, WOOD, GLASS AND COMBINATIONS OF ALL OF THESE.
• IN ARCHITECTURE, SOUND IS SIMPLY DEFINED AS AUDIBLE SIGNAL. THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT
SUBSONIC OR SUPERSONIC SIGNALS ARE NOT SOUND, NOR DOES IT MEAN THAT WE ARE TAKING A STAND
ON THE EXISTENTIAL QUESTION -OF WHETHER UNHEARD SOUND EXISTS. IT SIMPLY MEANS THAT THE
SCIENCE OF ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS IS CONCERNED WITH THE BUILDING OCCUPANTS, AND
SOUNDS WHICH HE OR SHE CANNOT DETECT ARE GENERALLY NOR OUR CONCERN.
• TO FURTHER CLEAR THE AIR, IT IS ALWAYS ASSUMED THAT THE HEARER HAS A PAIR OF HEALTHY YOUNG
EARS WITH A DETECTION RANGE OF 20 TO 20,000 HZ. WITH THESE GIVENS, IT IS PROBABLY BEST TO
VIEW SOUND AS A SERIES OF PRESSURE VARIATIONS. IN AIR, THESE PRESSURE VARIATIONS TAKE THE
FORM OF PERIODIC COMPRESSIONS AND RAREFACTIONS. ·
PROPAGATION OF SOUND
• A FALLING TREE GENERATES SOUND. THIS IS A PHYSICAL DISTURBANCE, OR AN ALTERATION OR
PULSATION OF PRESSURE OF BEING DETECTED BY A NORMAL EAR BY TRAVELING THROUGH AIR. IN ANY
CASE, A MEDIUM POSSESING INERTIA AND ELASTICITY IS NEEDED TO PROPAGATE IT. SOUND WAVES DO
NOT TRAVEL THROUGH A VACUUM.
• THE AUDITORY SENSATION PRODUCED BY SOUND WAVES WILL BE CALLED SOUND SENSATION. THE
CRASHING TREE PRODUCES A SOUND SENSATION ONLY WHEN AN EAR HEARS IT.
VELOCITY OF PROPAGATION

• SOUND TRAVELS AT DIFFERENT VELOCITIES DEPENDING UPON THE MEDIUM. IN AIR, AT SEA LEVEL, SOUND
VELOCITY IS 344M/SEC OR 1130 FPS. THIS CORRESPONDS TO 770 MILES PER HOUR (MPH) OR 4 78
KILOMETERS PER HOUR (KMPH) - SLOW INDEED WHEN COMPARED TO LIGHT AT 186,000 MILES PER
SECOND. SINCE SOUND TRAVELS NOT ONLY IN AIR BUT ALSO THROUGH PARTS OF THE STRUCTURE IT IS
OF INTEREST TO KNOW THE VELOCITIES IN OTHER MEDIA. SOUND TRAVELS MUCH FASTER IN LIQUIDS AND
SOLIDS THAN IT DOES IN AIR.
SPEED OF SOUND
• AS SOUND TRAVELS MUCH SLOWER THAN SPEED OF LIGHT, THE RESULTING DEFECTS IN MANY ROOMS
ARE ECHOES AND REVERBERATIONS. EXPERIMENTAL DATA SHOW THAT WHEN THE REFLECTED SOUNDS
WHICH REACH AN OBSERVER ARE DELAYED MORE THAN ABOUT 0.058 SECOND, RELATIVE TO DIRECT
SOUNDS, THEY ARE DISTINGUISHED AS ECHOES. (SOUND TRAVELS APPROXIMATELY 65 FEET IN THIS TIME
INTERVAL.) REVERBERATION, AS MOST SIMPLY INTERPRTTTED, CONSISTS OF SUCCESSIVE REFLECTIONS
OF A SOUND IN A ROOM. AND SINCE SOUND TRAVELS ONLY ABOUT 1130 FEET OR 344 METERS PER
SECOND THESE USUALLY WILL BE A RATHER LONG SUCCESSION OF THESE REFLECTIONS BEFORE THE
SOUND DIES AWAY TO INAUDIBILITY.
• FOR ALL PRACTICAL PURPOSES IN ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS, THE SPEED OF SOUND IS INDEPENDENT
OF FREQUENCY, INTENSITY, AND CHANGES IN ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE. ·TEMPERATURE DOES HAVE A
SIGNIFICANT EFFECT ON THE SPEED, INCREASING IT ABOUT 1 . 1 FEET OR (3 CENTIMETERS) PER SECOND
PER DEGREE FAHRENHEIT RISE IN TEMPERATURE. THE DEPENDENCE OF THE SPEED OF SOUND ON
TEMPERATURE IS ONE OF THE PRIME CAUSES OF THE BENDING OF SOUND RAYS IN THE ATMOSPHERE.
THIS BENDING (REFRACTION) OF SOUND WAVES SOMETIMES AFFECTS THE DISTRIBUTION OF SOUND
REACHING AN AUDIENCE, ESPECIALLY IN OPEN-AIR THEATRES.
• THE TERM VELOCITY OF SOUND IS OFTEN USED INTERCHANGEABLY WITH SPEED OF SOUND ALTHOUGH,
STRICTLY SPEAKING, THE TWO ARE NOT THE SAME. VELOCITY INCLUDES BOTH SPEED AND DIRECTION OF
PROPAGATION; VELOCITY IS SPEED IN A SPECIFIED DIRECTION; THAT IS VELOCITY IS A VECTOR QUANTITY.
THE DIRECTION OF PROPAGATION IS THE DIRECTION OF THE ADVANCE OF THE WAVE, DEFINED MORE
ACCURATELY BY THE PERPENDICULAR TO A WAVE FRONT (SURFACE OF CONSTANT PHASE) OF THE
ADVANCING WAVE.
FREQUENCY

• THE NUMBER OF TIMES THE CYCLE OF COMPRESSION AND RAREFACTION OF AIR (OR TO AND FOR
VIBRATIONS THAT THE SOURCE) MAKES IN A GIVEN UNIT OF TIME OR 1 SECOND IS DESCRIBED AS THE
FREQUENCY OF A SOUND (OR VIBRATION). FOR EXAMPLE, IF THERE ARE 1000 CYCLES IN ONE SECOND, THE
FREQUENCY OF THE SOUND IS 1000 CPS [1000 HERTZ (HZ)] IN THE STANDARD NOMENCLATURE. THUS, IN
THE FIGURE HIGHER FREQUENCIES WOUD BE SHOWN BY COMPRESSIONS AND RAREFACTIONS THAT ARE
CLOSER TOGETHER AND LOWER FREQUENCIES BY THOSE THAT ARE FURTHER APART.
• HI SOUND. FREQUENCY IS OFTEN REFERRED TO BY A TERM BORROWED FROM MUSICAL CONCEPTS -
PITCH. THE HIGHER THE FREQUENCY THE HIGHER THE PITCH. AND VICE VERSA. AS STATED, THE
APPROXIMATE FREQUENCY RANGE OF A HEALTHY YOUNG PERSON'S HEARING IS 20 TO 20,000 HZ. THIS
UPPER LIMIT DECREASES WITH AGE AS A RESULT OF A PROCESS CALLED PRESBYCUSIS. RECOGNITION OF
THIS PHENOMENON CAN BE OF IMPORTANCE TO SCHOOLS, SINCE VERY HIGH-PITCHED SOUNDS THAT ARE
INAUDIBLE TO MOST ADULTS, CAN BE A SOURCE OF EXTREME ANNOYANCE TO STUDENTS.
• THE HUMAN SPEAKING VOICE HAS A RANGE OF APPROXIMATELY 100 TO 600HZ IN FUNDAMENTALS, BUT
HARMONICS (OVERTONES) REACH TO APPROXIMATETY 7500 HZ. MOST SPEECH INFORMATION. IS
CARRIED IN THE UPPER FREQUENCIES WHILE MOST ENERGY EXISTS IN THE LOWER FREQUENCIES WHILE
MOST ENERGY EXISTS IN THE LOWER FREQUENCIES. THE CRITICAL RANGE OF SPEECH COMMUNICATION
IS 300 TO 4000 HZ. OVERTONES OUTSIDE THESE FREQUENCIES GIVE THE VOICE ITS CHARACTERISTICS
SOUND. AND SPECIFIC IDENTITY.
WAVELENGTH AND TYPES OF PROPAGATION

• THE WAVELENGTH OF A SOUND MAY BE DEFINED AS THE DISTANCE BETWEEN SIMILAR POINTS ON
SUCCESSIVE WAVES OR THE DISTANCE THE SOUND TRAVELS IN ONE CYCLE OF VIBRATION, THAT IS, IN
1/SECOND. IS CALLED ITS WAVELENGTH AND IS DENOTED BY THE GREEK LETTER LAMBDA Λ . THE
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WAVELENGTH, FREQUENCY, AND VELOCITY OF A SOUND IS EXPRESSED AS
• LOW-FREQUENCY SOUNDS ARE CHARACTERIZED BY LONG WAVELENGTHS AND HIGH-FREQUENCY SOUNDS
BY SHORT WAVELENGTHS. SOUNDS WITH WAVELENGTHS RANGING FROM 1/2 INCH TO 50 FEET OR 1.25
CM TO 15.25 M CAN BE HEARD BY HUMANS. A SIMPLE NOMOGRAPH IS SHOWN IN THE FIGURE, WHICH
PERMITS RAPID DETERMINATION OF WAVELENGTH GIVEN FREQUENCY, AND VICE VERSA.
WAVE FORM
• THE WAVE FORM OF SOUND WAVE DESCRIBES, BY MEANS OF A GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION, THE
PRECISE NATURE OF A COMPLETE TO AND-FRO OSCILLATION OF THE VIBRATING PARTICLES IN A SOUND
FIELD. THUS BELOW IS A GRAPH OF THE SIMPLE HARMONIC WAVE FORM OF THE SOUND GENERATED BY A
GENTLY STRUCK TUNING FORK; IT GIVES AS THE FUNCTION OF THE TIME THE INSTANTANEOUS
DISPLACEMENT (PLOTTED VERTICALLY) OF A TYPICAL VIBRATING PARTICLE. .
• EACH COMPLETE CYCLE IN THE SINE WAVE GRAPH CORRESPONDS TO A COMPLETE CYCLE OF THE TUNING
FORK OR OF THE SOUND WAVE IT GENERATES. ALTHOUGH THE DISPLACEMENTS ARE REPRESENTED AS
TRANSVERSE TO THE TIME AXIS, THE ACTUAL DISPLACEMENTS OF THE PARTICLES IN THE SOUND FIELD
ARE PARALLEL TO THE DIRECTION OF PROPAGATION OF THE SOUND WAVE. THAT IS. THE WAVE MOTION IS
LONGITUDINAL
SOUND MAGNITUDE

• WHEN WE SPEAK OF SOUND MAGNITUDE, WE THINK OF LOUDNESS, WHICH IS A SUBJECTIVE, EAR

ORIENTED REACTION NOT LINEARLY RELATED TO THE PHYSICAL QUANTITY OF SOUND. THE LEVEL
(QUANTITY) OF SOUND PRESSURE, SOUND PRESSURE LEVEL (SPL), SOUND INTENSITY, AND SOUND
INTENSITY LEVEL (IL), ALL OF WHICH ARE DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER, AND FROM SUBJECTIVE
LOUDNESS. TO CLEARLY UNDERSTAND THESE CONCEPTS, A COMPREHENSION OF HOW WE HEAR AND HOW
SOUND IS PROPAGATED IN FREE SPACE IS NECESSARY.
LONGITUDINAL AND TRANSVERSE WAVES
WHAT ARE WAVES?

• A WAVE IS A PHENOMENON IN WHICH ENERGY IS TRANSFERRED THROUGH VIBRATION

 TRANSVERSE WAVE
• ARE WAVES WHICH TRAVEL IN A DIRECTION PERPENDICULAR TO THE DIRECTION OF VIBRATION
EXAMPLES OF TRANSVERSE WAVES

• WATER WAVES
• ROPE WAVES
• LIGHT WAVES
• ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES
LONGITUDINAL WAVES
• ARE WAVES WHICH TRAVEL IN A DIRECTION PARALLEL TO THE DIRECTION OF VIBRATION
CHARACTERISTIC OF A WAVE
• CRESTS AND TROUGHS
• AMPLITUDE
• WAVELENGTH
• FREQUENCY
• PERIOD
• SPEED
CREST AND THROUGH
• CREST ARE HIGH POINT OF A WAVE
• THROUGH ARE LOW POINT OF A WAVE
 AMPLITUDE
• IS THE HEIGHT OF A CREST OR DEPTH OF A THROUGH MEASURED FROM THE NORMAL UNDISTURBED
POSITION

SI unit for Amplitude

-is measured in
meters(m)
WAVELENGTH
• IS THE DISTANCE BETWEEN TWO SUCCESSIVE CRESTS AND THROUGH
FREQUENCY (F)

• IS THE NUMBER OF VIBRATION IN ONE SECOND

• SI UNIT OF FREQUENCY IS HERTZ (HZ)
• 1 HZ IS EQUAL TO 1 CYCLE PER SECOND OR 1 VIBRATION IN 1 SECOND
PERIOD (T)

• IS THE TIME TAKEN FOR ONE COMPLETE VIBRATION

• IS MEASURED IN SECOND
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERIOD AND
FREQUENCY

• FREQUENCY IS INVERSELY PROPORTIONAL TO PERIOD

• F = 1/T
• T = 1/F
SPEED OF A WAVE

• IS THE DISTANCE MOVED IN ONE SECOND

• IS MEASURED IN M/S (METER PER SECOND)
INVERSE SQUARE LAW

• REFERS TO A PHYSICAL QUANTITY OR INTENSITY THAT IS INVERSELY PROPORTIONAL TO THE SQUARE OF

THE DISTANCE FROM THE SOURCE
• OR SIMPLY, AS THE DISTANCE FROM THE SOURCE INCREASES, THE STRENGTH OF THE FIELD GOES DOWN
REALLY FAST
• IN MATH, YOU TAKE THE DISTANCE FROM THE SOURCE, SQUARE IT THEN FIND THE INVERSE OR THE
RECIPROCAL AND YOU’RE DONE.
• IN THE REALM OF ACOUSTICS, THE INVERSE SQUARE LAW STATES THAT THE INTENSITY OF SOUND
DECREASES BY APPROXIMATELY 6 DB FOR EACH DOUBLING OF DISTANCE FROM THE SOUND SOURCE. ... IF
YOU DOUBLE THAT DISTANCE TO 4 FEET, THE SOUND WILL DROP ANOTHER 6 DB, RESULTING IN A 12 DB
LOSS FROM THE ORIGINAL LEVEL.
•Here’s what each symbol represents:
•I = Intensity of sound
•P = Power of the source
•r = Distance between the source and the point of interest