Acoustics
What is a mechanical wave?
What is a sound?
What is the acoustic range?
freq. from 20 Hz to 20kHz
Where can sound propagation occur
in elastic media only
P(t) = ΔP sin φ
ΔP = maximal pressure increase/decrease
φ - phase of the given mechanical wave showing the rate of alterations

How do mechanical waves propagate?
Longitudinal and Transversal
Longitudinal
typical to gasses and liquids

Transverse waves
typical for solids where particles displacement occurs perpendicularly to wave propagation

Physical characteristics of sound: Sound Intensity, I
I = E/t.S

Physical characteristics of sound: Sound pressure, P
P = ΔP sin φ added to Patm
I = p2/2Za

Physical characteristics of sound: Sound frequency, f
Physical characteristics of sound: sound velocity

Physical characteristics of sound: sound wavelength
The distance between two consecutive sound fronts\
λ = v.T=v/f
Physical characteristics of sound: Acoustic impedance
Z = ρ.v
ρ -density of the given medium
v – sound velocity

Simple tone and complex tone sounds
Simple - if vibration has sine shape and possesses certain frequency
Complex - when it consist of several simple tones as superposition of mechanical waves.

Acoustic Spectrum
2f0, 3f0 etc. - amplitudes smaller

Psychophysical characteristics of sound
Perception ~ log(stimulus)
(Perceptions increases logarithmically with the stimulus)
Psychophysical characteristics of sound: Sound intensity
E=k. lg( I/I0 ),
I = intensity of sound
I0 = threshold (at 1000Hz, 10-12 W/m2 - lowest in power vibration audible for human ears)
Intensity level is measured in bel B/ decibel dB (at k=1 and k=10 respectively)
Psychophysical characteristics of sound: Loudness of sound, L*
L=k.lg(I/I0)
k = coefficient depending on frequency
I = intensity of the given sound
I0 = threshold of audibility of this sound
L is measured in Phon.
figure bellow - lines represent equal-loudness contours

Why is it that doubling the sound intensity to the ear does not produce a dramatic increase in loudness?
This is just a model, but it seems to correlate with the general observations which suggest that something like ten times the intensity is required to double the signal from the innner ear.

Psychophysical characteristics of sound: audibility area

Psychophysical characteristics of sound: pitch
Psychophysical characteristics of sound: timbre
Sound as a diagnostic instrument: Auscultation
loose-fitting earpiece cause leakage which reduces the coupling between the chest wall and the ear.
