Study Guide 

• The 4 physical attributes of sound are: frequency, amplitude, waveform, and duration
• The 4 perceptual attributes of sound are: Pitch, loudness, timbre and duration
• Sound transmission requires an elastic medium
• Periodic wave – Each cycle repeats for a certain duration
• Frequency – Cycles per unit of time – Determines pitch
• Amplitude – The “height” of the wave – Determines the loudness
• Waveform – The shape of the wave – Determines the timbre
• Amplitude is measured in Decibels (db)
  • 130db and over is painful
  • 85 and above cause hearing loss

   

• Frequency is measured in Hertz, Hz.
  • Young ears can hear 20-20000.
  • Old ears can hear 40-12000
  • The most sensitive frequency of Human Hearing is 1000-5000
• Simple wave - Only one sine wave
• Complex sound  - combination of simple sine waves
• Noise – Complex wave in which the partials are “random”
• Musical Tone – Partials are integer multiples of the lowest partial
  
   
• Partials – all of the sine waves that are combined in creating a complex wave
• Fundamental – Lowest partial
• Harmonic series – f 2f 3f 4f 5f…..nf (f=frequency of the fundamental)
• Overtones – the harmonics above the fundamental
• Fundamental = first harmonic
• First overtone = second harmonic
• Saw tooth wave – has all harmonics
• Square wave – only odd harmonics