Are acoustics and sound the same thing – What physical phenomena are involved in acoustics?
Sounds are often considered to be those sensations which the ear can detect, however, acoustics is concerned with much more than just hearing. Before we explore the range covered by acoustics it is useful to ensure we understand how sound is produced. Sound results from vibrations in the medium, whether it be a gas, a liquid or a solid. Consider a tuning fork. When it is ‘sounded’, the prongs vibrate back and forth creating fluctuations in the air pressure around the prongs. These fluctuations move away from the fork prongs, creating a sound wave. The bow causes a violin string to vibrate producing sound waves, while the bang coming from an explosion is caused by rapid changes occurring in the hot gas at the centre of the explosion. Speech is produced by the relatively complicated interaction of the lungs, vocal cords and passages in the throat, the resultant effect being the generation of alternatively compressed and rarefied regions of air immediately in front of the lips. Again, thi
