HND 1 CGWD : PHYSICAL SCIENCE CHAPTER 3 : SOUND

CHAPTER 3 : SOUND

Definition
In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission
medium such as a gas, liquid or solid.
In human physiology and psychology, sound is the reception of such waves and their perception
by the brain. Only acoustic waves that have frequencies lying between about 20 Hz and 20 kHz,
the audio frequency range, elicit an auditory percept in humans.

I characteristic of sound

What are the characteristics of Sound Waves?

The sensation felt by our ears is called sound. It is a form of energy which makes us hear. We
hear several sounds around us in our everyday life.

We know that sound travels in the form of wave.

A wave is a vibratory disturbance in a medium which carries energy from one point to another
without there being a direct contact between the two points.

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We can say that a wave is produced by the vibrations of the particles of the medium through
which it passes.

There are two types of waves: Longitudinal waves and Transverse waves.

Longitudinal Waves: A wave in which the particles of the medium vibrate back and forth in
the ‘same direction’ in which the wave is moving. Medium can be solid, liquid or gases.
Therefore, sound waves are longitudinal waves.

Transverse Waves: A wave in which the particles of the medium vibrate up and down ‘at right
angles’ to the direction in which the wave is moving. These waves are produced only in a solids
and liquids but not in gases.

Sound is a longitudinal wave which consists of compressions and rarefactions travelling

through a medium.

Sound wave can be described by five characteristics: Wavelength, Amplitude, Time-

Period, Frequency and Velocity or Speed.

1. Wavelength

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The minimum distance in which a sound wave repeats itself is called its wavelength. That is it
is the length of one complete wave. It is denoted by a Greek letter λ (lambda). We know that
in a sound wave, the combined length of a compression and an adjacent rarefaction is called its
wavelength. Also, the distance between the centres of two consecutive compressions or two
consecutive rarefactions is equal to its wavelength.

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Note: The distance between the centres of a compression and an adjacent rarefaction is equal
to half of its wavelength i.e. λ/2. The S.I (System International) unit for measuring wavelength
is metre (m).

2. Amplitude

When a wave passes through a medium, the particles of the medium get displaced
temporarily from their original undisturbed positions. The maximum displacement of the
particles of the medium from their original undisturbed positions, when a wave passes through
the medium is called amplitude of the wave. In fact the amplitude is used to describe the size
of the wave. The S.I unit of measurement of amplitude is metre (m) though sometimes it is also
measured in centimetres

3. Time-Period

The time required to produce one complete wave or cycle is called time-period of the wave.
Now, one complete wave is produced by one full vibration of the vibrating body. So, we can
say that the time taken to complete one vibration is known as time-period. It is denoted by letter
T. The unit of measurement of time-period is second (s).

4. Frequency

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The number of complete waves or cycles produced in one second is called frequency of the
wave. Since one complete wave is produced by one full vibration of the vibrating body, so we
can say that the number of vibrations per second is called frequency. For example: if 10
complete waves or vibrations are produced in one second then the frequency of the waves will

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be 10 hertz or 10 cycles per second. Do you know that the frequency of a wave is fixed and
does not change even when it passes through different substances?

The S.I unit of frequency is hertz or Hz. A vibrating body emitting 1 wave per second is said
to have a frequency of 1 hertz. That is 1 Hz is equal to 1 vibration per second.
Sometimes a bigger unit of frequency is known as kilohertz (kHz) that is 1 kHz = 1000 Hz.
The frequency of a wave is denoted by the letter f.

The frequency of a wave is the same as the frequency of the vibrating body which produces
the wave.

What is the relation between time-period and frequency of a wave?

The time required to produce one complete wave is called time-period of the wave. Suppose
the time-period of a wave is T seconds.
In T seconds number of waves produced = 1
So, in 1 second, number of waves produced will be = 1/T
But the number of waves produced in 1 second is called its frequency.
Therefore, F = 1/Time-period
f = 1/T
where f = frequency of the wave
T = time-period of the wave

5. Velocity of Wave (Speed of Wave)

The distance travelled by a wave in one second is called velocity of the wave or speed of the
wave. It is represented by the letter v. The S.I unit for measuring the velocity is metres per
second (m/s or ms-1).

What is the relationship between Velocity, Frequency and Wavelength of a Wave?

Velocity = Distance travelled/ Time taken

Let v = λ / T
Where T = time taken by one wave.
v=fXλ
this formula is known as wave equation.

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Where v = velocity of the wave

f = frequency
λ = wavelength
Velocity of a wave = Frequency X Wavelength

This applies to all the waves like transverse waves like water waves, longitudinal waves like
sound waves and the electromagnetic waves like light waves and radio waves
Therefore we have learnt various characteristics of sound waves.

II Characteristics of a sound wave (ESADD)

Since sound is a wave, we can relate the properties of sound to the properties of a wave. The
basic properties of sound are: pitch, loudness and tone.

Figure 10.2: Pitch and loudness of sound. Sound B has a lower pitch (lower frequency) than
Sound A and is softer (smaller amplitude) than Sound C.

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Pitch

The frequency of a sound wave is what your ear understands as pitch. A higher frequency sound
has a higher pitch, and a lower frequency sound has a lower pitch. In Figure 10.2 sound A has
a higher pitch than sound B. For instance, the chirp of a bird would have a high pitch, but the
roar of a lion would have a low pitch.

The human ear can detect a wide range of frequencies. Frequencies from 20 to 20 000 Hz are
audible to the human ear. Any sound with a frequency below 20 Hz is known as an infrasound
and any sound with a frequency above is known as an ultrasound.

Table 10.2 lists the ranges of some common animals compared to humans.

Table 10.2: Range of frequencies

Range of wavelengths

Using the information given in Table 10.2, calculate the lower and upper wavelengths that each
species can hear. Assume the speed of sound in air is .

Loudness

The amplitude of a sound wave determines its loudness or volume. A larger amplitude means
a louder sound, and a smaller amplitude means a softer sound. In Figure 10.2 sound C is louder
than sound B. The vibration of a source sets the amplitude of a wave. It transmits energy into

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the medium through its vibration. More energetic vibration corresponds to larger amplitude.
The molecules move back and forth more vigorously.

The loudness of a sound is also determined by the sensitivity of the ear. The human ear is more
sensitive to some frequencies than to others. The volume we receive thus depends on both the
amplitude of a sound wave and whether its frequency lies in a region where the ear is more or
less sensitive.

III Fundamental and Harmonic Frequencies

Musical sounds consist of a fundamental frequency, harmonics, and overtones.

Fundamental Frequency

The lowest frequency of any vibrating object is called the fundamental frequency. The
fundamental frequency provides the sound with its strongest audible pitch reference - it is the
predominant frequency in any complex waveform.

A sine wave is the simplest of all waveforms and contains only a single fundamental frequency
and no harmonics, overtones or partials.

Virtually all musical sounds have waves that are infinitely more complex than a sine wave. It
is the addition of harmonics and overtones to a wave that makes it possible to distinguish
between different sounds and instruments; the timbre.

Harmonics

A harmonic is one of an ascending series of sonic components that sound above the audible
fundamental frequency.

The higher frequency harmonics that sound above the fundamental make up the harmonic
spectrum of the sound. Harmonics can be difficult to perceive distinctly as single components,
nevertheless, they are there.

Harmonics have a lower amplitude than the fundamental frequency.

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Harmonics are integer multiples of the fundamental frequency. For example, if the fundamental
frequency is 50 Hz (also known as the first harmonic) then the second harmonic will be 100 Hz
(50 * 2 = 100 Hz), the third harmonic will be 150 Hz (50 * 3 = 150 Hz), and so on.

Figure 1 - Harmonics

Overtones

Overtones are frequencies of a waveform that are higher than, but not directly related to, the
fundamental frequency.

Resulting Timbre

Two tones produced by different instruments might have the same fundamental frequency
and thus the same pitch e.g a C note, but sound very different because of the presence of
different amounts of harmonics and overtones.

It is the presence of harmonics and overtones within a soundwave that helps to produce the
sounds unique sound.

The timbre describes those characteristics of sound which allow the ear to distinguish sounds
that have the same fundamental pitch.

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It is due to the timbre that we can distinguish one instrument from another, for example, a piano
played at C3 sounds different to a guitar plucked at C3.

The timbre is often described in subjective terms, for example, reedy or golden.

IV Analog to Digital Conversion

Digital Signal: A digital signal is a signal that represents data as a sequence of discrete values;
at any given time it can only take on one of a finite number of values.

Analog Signal: An analog signal is any continuous signal for which the time varying feature
of the signal is a representation of some other time varying quantity i.e., analogous to another
time varying signal.

The following techniques can be used for Analog to Digital Conversion:

1. pulse code modulation:

The most common technique to change an analog signal to digital data is called pulse code
modulation (PCM). A PCM encoder has the following three processes:

a. Sampling
b. Quantization
c. Encoding

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Low pass filter :

The low pass filter eliminates the high frequency components present in the input analog
signal to ensure that the input signal to sampler is free from the unwanted frequency
components. This is done to avoid aliasing of the message signal.

a. Sampling – The first step in PCM is sampling. Sampling is a process of measuring the
amplitude of a continuous-time signal at discrete instants, converting the continuous
signal into a discrete signal. There are three sampling methods:

(i) Ideal Sampling: In ideal Sampling also known as Instantaneous sampling pulses
from the analog signal are sampled. This is an ideal sampling method and cannot be
easily implemented.

(ii) Natural Sampling: Natural Sampling is a practical method of sampling in which

pulse have finite width equal to T. The result is a sequence of samples that retain the
shape of the analog signal.

(iii) Flat top sampling: In comparison to natural sampling flat top sampling can be
easily obtained. In this sampling technique, the top of the samples remains constant by
using a circuit. This is the most common sampling method used.

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Nyquist Theorem:
One important consideration is the sampling rate or frequency. According to the
Nyquist theorem, the sampling rate must be at least 2 times the highest frequency
contained in the signal. It is also known as the minimum sampling rate and given by:
Fs =2*fh

b. Quantization –
The result of sampling is a series of pulses with amplitude values between the maximum
and minimum amplitudes of the signal. The set of amplitudes can be infinite with non-
integral values between two limits.

The following are the steps in Quantization:

1. We assume that the signal has amplitudes between Vmax and Vmin
2. We divide it into L zones each of height d where,
d= (Vmax- Vmin)/ L

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3. The value at the top of each sample in the graph shows the actual amplitude.
4. The normalized pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) value is calculated using the
formula amplitude/d.
5. After this we calculate the quantized value which the process selects from the
middle of each zone.
6. The Quantized error is given by the difference between quantised value and
normalised PAM value.
7. The Quantization code for each sample based on quantization levels at the left
of the graph.
c. Encoding –
The digitization of the analog signal is done by the encoder. After each sample is
quantized and the number of bits per sample is decided, each sample can be changed to
an n bit code. Encoding also minimizes the bandwidth used.

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2. delta modulation :

Since PCM is a very complex technique, other techniques have been developed to reduce the
complexity of PCM. The simplest is delta Modulation. Delta Modulation finds the change from
the previous value.

Modulator – The modulator is used at the sender site to create a stream of bits from an analog
signal. The process records a small positive change called delta. If the delta is positive, the
process records a 1 else the process records a 0. The modulator builds a second signal that
resembles a staircase. The input signal is then compared with this gradually made staircase
signal.

We have the following rules for output:

1. If the input analog signal is higher than the last value of the staircase signal, increase
delta by 1, and the bit in the digital data is 1.
2. If the input analog signal is lower than the last value of the staircase signal, decrease
delta by 1, and the bit in the digital data is 0.

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3. adaptive delta modulation:

The performance of a delta modulator can be improved significantly by making the step size of
the modulator assume a time-varying form. A larger step-size is needed where the message has
a steep slope of modulating signal and a smaller step-size is needed where the message has a
small slope. The size is adapted according to the level of the input signal. This method is known
as adaptive delta modulation (ADM).

V- AUDIO FORMAT

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List of Formats
Supported by Scratch

Below is a description of audio formats supported by Scratch:

 MP3

The most popular audio format, MP3 (also known as MPEG-3) is a lossy format
playable on many devices and programs. However, due to numerous involved patents,
some programs, especially open source or independently developed programs, cannot
handle MP3 files as the developers do not have the resources to pay the necessary
royalties.

 WAV

The default uncompressed audio format on Windows and also playable in most
programs, WAV is a higher quality format than MP3, so it uses more storage.
Other

Below is a list of other common audio formats that are not supported by Scratch:

 AAC

Apple's lossy audio format, the format of music purchased in iTunes. Has the .m4a file
extension and is playable in iTunes, on Apple devices, and on the Nintendo DSi.

 M4A

A lossy audio format, .m4a was intended to be the successor of .mp3. It is encoded
with .acc, it is audio-only even though it wasn't originally designed to be.

 M4B

An audio format that is very similar to .m4a but is specifically designed for
audiobooks.

 OGG

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A lossy audio format developed to be an open-source alternative to MP3, often used in

video games. Many wikis offer support of this audio format to be uploaded as a file.

 WMA

Microsoft's lossy audio format, playable in Windows Media Player.

 AIFF

The default uncompressed audio format on Mac OS X. Often has the .aif file
extension.

 FLAC

A popular open-source lossless audio format, playable in many open-source programs.

 ALAC

Apple's lossless audio format, playable in iTunes. Has the extension .m4a like AAC
files and is only distinguishable using another program.

 WMA Lossless

Microsoft's lossless audio format, playable in Windows Media Player. Has the
extension .wma like normal WMA files and is only distinguishable using another
program.

Since MP3 is the most popular audio format , let have a loop.

VI MP3 FORMAT
In 1990, listening to music on your local PC was not as easy as it is now. Musical CDs were
popular but they couldn't store a lot of music and people were not able to make their own custom
musical compilations on a CD. And although MIDI and WAVE were the musical formats
available back then, music was mainly listened on stereos. However, all of this changed almost
15 years ago, when in 1992 the MPEG-1 standard was introduced and with it came the MP3.

The MP3 format was first introduced in 1992 at the MPEG conference in London. It represented
an easy-to-encode-and-decode digital music format. Files encoded in MP3 have a quality very
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similar to that of the CD audio tracks but are much smaller in size. And with the average disk
space on a home computer at the time being about 500 MB, file size was important. In the years
to follow, several MP3 encoders and decoders were produced, making the MP3 file format
available to a much wider audience.

Online impact

The MP3 files made a huge online impact. They successfully replaced the MIDI and WAV
files, which were used at the time. MP3 files could now be streamed online and played with the
help of a simple flash player. MP3 files also allowed for the creation of various music portals.
MP3 files were smaller than any other music file at the time and at the same time - offering
sound quality similar to that of the audio CDs. Their size allowed the regular online user to
store several MP3 files in a hosting account, even if that web hosting account was very small.

MP3 files are also easy to decode, which made online streaming easier - the easier a file is to
decode, the less CPU power is required for the process and the process can be carried out faster.

MP3 quickly became a big industry, with a lot of musical portals selling .mp3 files online. This
made the fight for the best domain name with mp3 in it a very heated one. Now, an attractive
domain name containing mp3 can be bought for no less than several thousand dollars

Legal complications

When MP3 was released, it allowed anyone to take music from their CDs and share it online in
an easy manner. Very soon, whole websites and programs appeared, dedicated just to this idea.
This caught the attention of the representatives of the musical companies. This gave birth to
several lawsuits, which dragged on for years. The final result was in favor of the record industry
- having illegal copies of songs was now prosecutable by law. However, this didn't affect the
MP3 community a lot. Music portals started selling single songs very cheaply, with the
permissions of the songs’ authors.

Alternatives

Today, MP3 is a relatively old format, but it's still widely popular. However, there are several
alternatives to the MP3 format, which, although superior in many aspects, never got that popular
among the general public.

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AAC

AAC or Advanced Audio Coding is considered the successor of the MP3 format. It was
introduced with the MPEG-4 standard by the MPEG group and provides much better quality
than the regular MP3 files. It is slowly getting more and more public attention, since it's now
the default audio format for Apple's iTunes store and Sony's PlayStation 3.

FLAC

FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec. It provides much better sound quality than MP3
or AAC, but at the price of a bigger file size. While FLAC is popular among music enthusiasts,
it's relatively unknown to the general public. The lack of popular encoders and decoders and
the lack of support from most audio players keep FLAC from getting more popular.

Vorbis (OGG)

The OGG format appeared several years after MP3, offering better sound quality with the same
file size. However, it had to compete with MP3 when it was on the rise and was left unnoticed
for a long time. Only in the last years the OGG format gained more attention and is now
supported by almost all of the major audio players, both software and hardware.

References:
https://www.ntchosting.com/encyclopedia/multimedia/mp3-audio-format/

https://www.bharathuniv.ac.in/colleges1/downloads/courseware_ece/notes/BEC604%20-
COMMUNICATION%20ENG%20II.pdf

https://intl.siyavula.com/read/science/grade-10/sound/10-sound-03

https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/analog-to-digital-conversion/

https://www.dijifi.com/blog/how-converting-analog-to-digital-audio-works

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-
d&q=sound+fundemental+frequency+and+harmonics

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