ARCHITECTURAL

ACOUSTICS.
BASIC THEORY OF
ACOUSTICS.

Generation of sound

Sound waves are generated by any vibrating body.

For example,when a iliiibbi violin string vibrates upon

being bowed or plucked,its movement in one direction
pushes the molecules of the air before it crowding them
the air before it,crowding them together in its path.
When it moves back again past its original position and
onto the otherside, it leaves behind it an early empty
space,i.e.,a space with relatively few molecules in it .
In the mean time however the molecules relatively few
molecules in it.

cont....

which were at first

crowded together have
transmitted some of their
energy of motion to
other molecules still
farther on and are
returning to fill again
the space originally
occupied and now left
empty by the gpgyppyy
retreating violinstring.

In other words,the
vibratory motion set up
by thilitilttlii the violin
string causes alternately
in a given space a
crowding together of the
molecules of
air(acondensation) and
a thinning out of the
air(acondensation) and
a thinning out of the
molecules(ararefaction).

Propogation of sound.

Sound is propagated in air, much like blowing up a

large balloon which expands equally balloon, which
expands equally in all directions. For sound to be
generated and heard it must g have a source, a medium
through which to pass and a receiver.
Propagation means movement through Sound will
propagate through air and water.

Transmission of sound.

There are three requirements for sound to "occur" in an

environment:

(1) A vibrating source to initiate sound sound,

(2) A medium to transmit sound vibrations throughout the
environment and
(3) A receiver to hear or record sound vibrations.
Sound is initiated in an environment by a vibrating source.

cont...

The ear consists of three basic parts

The outer ear serves to collect and channel sound to the
middle ear.
The middle ear serves to transform the energy of a sound
wave into the internal vibrations of the bone structure of the
of the bone structure of the middle ear and ultimately
transform these vibrations into a compression wave in the
inner ear.
The inner ear serves to transform the energy of a
compression wave within the inner ear fluid into within the
inner ear fluid into nerve impulses that can be transmitted
to the brain.

Frequency.

WhatisFrequency?
The number of cycles
perunit of time iscalled the
frequency.
For convenience,
frequency is most often
measured in cyclesper
d()thithblHt(H)(6060H)
secon d(cps) or the
interchangeable Hertz(Hz)
(60cps=60Hz), named after
the19th physicist.

Wave length.

What is wavelength?
The wave length of sound
is the distance between
analogous points of two
successive waves. p

=c/f

where =wavelength (m)

c = speed of sound (m/s)
f = frequency

Sound intensity.

Sound Intensity.
The sound intensity in a specifie
d direction is the amount
of sound energy flowing throug
h a unit
area normal to that direction. Th
e sound intensity is normally
measured in watt per square
metre
is normally measured in watt per
square metre (W/m2).

The scale for measuring intensit

y is the decibel scale

Sound Pressure.

Sound pressure or acoustic pressure is

the local pressure deviation from the ambient
(averageorequilibrium)atmospheric pressure
(average, or equilibrium) atmospheric pressure
caused by a sound wave.
Sound pressure can be measured using
Sound pressure can be measured using
a microphone in air and a hydrophone in water.
The SI unit for sound pressure pis the Pascal.

Inverse-Square Law

An inverse square law is any physical law stating that

aspeecified quantity or intensity is inversely
proportional tothe square of disstance from the source
of that physical quantity.
INTENSITY=1/Square of DISTANCE.

Decibel Scale

Acoustic energy cannot be readily measured.

acoustic energy is proportional to the square of sound
pressure.
dB=10log(P/P0)
WHERE, P is the sound pressure
p0 is the refference which is equal to the thrushold of
human hearing (i.e.,0.00002pa-20pa).