Lecture 2
Acoustic Properties &
Human Sensation
Acoustic Properties
Acoustical properties of sound are:
§ Impedance
§ Intensity
§ Attenuation
§ Sound Measurement:
§ Sound Levels — Decibels
§ Sound Pressure
§ Sound Power
Acoustic Properties
IMPEDANCE
• Is a measure of the resistance to motion at a given point
• Air has a low characteristic impedance than hard surfaces or
compact mediums like a concrete slab
• Specific acoustic impedance (z) is the ratio of the sound pressure to
the particle velocity at a point or product of density and
propagation velocity :
§ z = ρv or z = p/v
• Homogeneous mediums reflect less sound, but differences in
acoustic impedance create reflective interfaces that echo the sound
waves back
Acoustic Properties
ATTENUATION
• The intensity of sound waves weaken as they travel through any
medium
• In ideal systems sound pressure (amplitude) is only reduced by the
spreading of waves
• In real systems some waves are scattered and others are absorbed, or
reflected
• This decrease in intensity of sound (loss of amplitude) is called
attenuation.
Sound Measurement
SOUND POWER (W)
• Sound power is the rate at which sound energy is emitted over unit
time
• it is constant and non directional value
• For a sound source, unlike sound pressure, sound power is neither
room-dependent nor distance-dependent.
• Sound power is also called as Acoustic Power.
• The SI unit of sound power is the watt (w) or Joule/sec.
Sound Measurement
SOUND INTENSITY (I)
• Is the measure of the energy propagating through a given area during
a given time
• It is defined as acoustic power passing through an area:
ü I = W/S, where W-sound power, S-surface area
• Intensity can also be described as the multiple effect of acoustic
pressure and particle velocity
ü I = P x V, where P-pressure, V-velocity
Sound Measurement
SOUND PRESSURE (P)
• Sound or acoustic pressure is the local pressure deviation from the
ambient (equilibrium) atmospheric pressure, caused by a sound wave
• In air, sound pressure can be measured using a microphone, and in
water with a hydrophone.
• The SI unit of sound pressure is the pascal (Pa).
Sound Measurement
• 20µPa is the quietest sound that can be heard by an average person and it is the
threshold of hearing
• A sound pressure change of approximately 100 Pa is so loud that causes serious
pain to ear
Sound Measurement
Sound Measurement
Pressure vs. Power
§ Sound pressure is a property of the field at a point in space, while sound power is a
property of a sound source itself, equal to the total power emitted by that source in
all directions.
Sound Measurement
SOUND POWER LEVEL (SWL)
• Since the range of intensities is so large, the common practice is to
express values in terms of levels.
• A sound source produces sound power and it generates a sound
pressure fluctuation in the air.
• The range of human hearing is from 0.000000000001 watts to 100
watts or more, so sound power values in watts is not practical for
everyday use.
Sound Measurement
• In the case of the audible sound for human ear, the amount of power is very small, so
the reference selected for comparison is the picowatt (10 -12 watt) – threshold of
hearing
• The sound power level after this reference is expressed in terms of decibel scale or
simply decibels (dB)
Sound Measurement
Sound Power Levels of Various Sources
Sound Measurement
SOUND INTENSITY LEVELS (SIL)
• Sound intensity is the sound power over a unit area.
• Also the intensity of a sound wave is defined as the mean value of the acoustic energy
which crosses a unit area perpendicular to the direction of propagation in unit time.
• The SI units for intensity of sound is watts/m2
• Many sound intensity measurements are made relative to a standard threshold of
hearing intensity:
• The most common approach to sound intensity measurement is the use of decibel
scale
Sound Measurement
DECIBELs
• In theoretical acoustic phenomena, it is convenient to express sound
pressure, sound intensity and sound power by Pa, w/m 2 and w
respectively.
• The use of a logarithmic scale compresses the range of numbers
required to describe this wide range of intensities.
• Hence the most commonly employed logarithmic scale for describing
sound levels is the Decibel scale (dB).
Sound Measurement
DECIBELs
• When expressing power quantities, the number of decibels is ten times
the logarithm to base 10 of the ratio of two power quantities.
• That is, a change in power by a factor of 10 corresponds to a 10 dB change
in level.
• When expressing field (or "root-power") quantities, a change
in amplitude by a factor of 10 corresponds to a 20 dB change in level.
• Hence the measure for sound pressure level is also db & reference for
sound pressure in air is 20Pa.
Sound Measurement
DECIBELs – summary
Human Sensation to Sound
THE HUMAN EAR
• The outer ear called Pinna collects sound waves.
• The sound waves passes through the ear canal to a thin membrane called
Eardrum.
• The eardrum vibrates. The vibrations are amplified by the three bones of
the middle ear called Hammer, Anvil and Stirrup.
• The middle ear then transmits the sound waves to the inner ear.
• In the inner ear the sound waves are converted into electrical signals by
the cochlea and sent to the brain through the auditory nerves.
Human Sensation to Sound
§ Finally the brain interprets the signals as sound.
Human Sensation to Sound
There are some hearing sensations of human ear to sound:
• Pitch
• Range of Hearing
ü Threshold of Hearing
ü Threshold of Pain
• Loudness
• Intelligibility
• Annoyance
• Hearing Loss
Human Sensation to Sound
PITCH
• Pitch is the human perception of how high or low a tone sounds, based
on its relative position on a scale.
• Musical pitch is defined in terms of notes, yet there are psycho-
acoustical experiments to measure human perception of relative pitch
• Relative pitch perception can be detected by repeating one tone sounds
twice as high as another
• Pitch depends on frequency and intensity of a sound wave. At mid
frequencies (<3000 Hz), pitch is relatively independent of intensity,
whereas at higher frequencies above 4000 Hz, pitch increases with
sound intensity level
Human Sensation to Sound
RANGE OF HEARING
• Human beings can hear sound frequencies between 20 Hz and 20,000
Hz
• Sound whose frequency is less than 20 Hz is called Infrasonic sound.
Animals like dogs, elephants, rhinoceros, whales etc. produce and hear
infrasonic sound.
• Sound whose frequency is more than 20,000 Hz is called Ultrasonic
sound. Animals like dolphins, bats, rats etc. produce and hear ultrasonic
sound. E.g Bats use reflection of ultrasonic sound waves to detect an
obstacle or its prey.
Human Sensation to Sound
RANGE OF HEARING
• The nominal range of human hearing is from the standard threshold of
hearing to the threshold of pain.
Human Sensation to Sound
Range of Hearing – THRESHOLD OF HEARING
• Sound level measurement in decibels is referenced to a standard threshold of
hearing at 1000 Hz for the human ear which can be stated in terms of sound
intensity as:
• or in terms of sound pressure as:
• Threshold of hearing has wide acceptance as a nominal standard threshold and
corresponds to 0 decibels.
Human Sensation to Sound
Range of Hearing – THRESHOLD OF
PAIN
• A nominal figure for the
threshold of pain is 130 decibels,
this figure may be considered
painful for one but welcomed as
entertainment by others.
• Generally, younger people are
more tolerant of loud sounds
than older persons because
their protective mechanisms are
more effective.
Human Sensation to Sound
LOUDNESS
• Loudness is the human perception to the magnitude of a sound.
• The way we experience a change in loudness is subjective, it is not related
in a linear way to sound power
• Loudness is often measured in a way that relates actual sound intensity to
the way individuals experience sound
• We hear a doubling of sound pressure and intensity, not as being twice as
loud, but as a barely perceptible change
Eg. 30 dB sound is heard twice as loud as 20 dB
• Loudness also depends on the distance from the source of the sound to
our ear
• Loudness is measured in phons
Human Sensation to Sound
INTELLIGIBILITY/ Masking
• When we listen to two or more tones simultaneously, if their levels are sufficiently
different, it becomes difficult to perceive the quieter tone. We say that the quieter
sound is masked by the louder
• Tones that are close in frequency mask each other more than those that are widely
separated
• Tones mask upward in frequency rather than downward. The louder the masking tone
the wider the range of frequencies it can mask
• In large indoor facilities low-frequency reverberant noise can mask the intelligibility of
speech
Human Sensation to Sound
ANNOYANCE
• Comparative analyses, similar to those used in the measuring loudness,
have been developed to measure noisiness and annoyance
• Noisiness level or perceived noise level (PNL) with units of PNdB, shows
that noisiness doubles every 10 dB
• Any noise which is abrupt, intermittent, or fluctuates widely can be
extremely annoying
• High-frequency sounds (>4000 Hz) are generally more annoying than
middle- or low-frequency sounds because human hearing is less sensitive
to low-frequency sounds.
End of Lecture