Basic Physics of Sound & the Decibel Scale
Tahani Alothman
2009
References
Introduction to Audiology – Chapter 3 (Sound and its Measurement)
Audiology Diagnosis – Chapter 11 (Pure Tone Tests)
Lecture notes
Topics
Sound waves
Physical & psychological factors affecting sound waves
Physical description of pure tones
The decibel scale
Frequency and intensity function of the human ear
What is Sound?
If a tree falls in an uninhabited forest,
does it make a sound when it hits the
ground?
Sound = series of changes in
mechanical pressure in an elastic
medium, such as air or water
Humans are accustomed to hearing sound as a wave disturbance
propagated through air
Three prosperities are important to produce sound waves:
Force (i.e. something to set the sound source into vibration as when a tuning fork is
struck against a firm surface)
A vibrating mass (i.e. the tines of a tuning fork)
Elastic medium (i.e. air being the primary medium conveying sounds that the
human ear hears)
Factors affecting sound waves:
Physical factors
Psychological factors
Physical Factors:
Frequency
Intensity
Psychological Factors
Human reactions to sound
Subjective experiences
i.e. pitch, loudness, sound quality and ability to tell the direction
of sound source
Two basic physical measures associated with pure tones:
Frequency
Intensity
It specifies the number of back-and-forth oscillations or cycles produced by a
vibrator in a given time as molecular movement occurs and sound is created
The number of times that the object producing sound vibrates each second
The number of cycles that occur in 1 second
Hertz (Hz) OR cycles per second (cps): the term or unit used to describe
frequency
The physical measurement of what is psychologically perceived as “Pitch”
The normal human ear can hear from about 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz
The human ear is most sensitive to the mid-frequencies around 1000 Hz to
1500 Hz
Frequencies that are less than this range are infrasonic
Frequencies that are greater than this range are ultrasonic
In English and French, vowels are essentially low-frequency sounds that
control speech intensity while consonants are essentially high-frequency
sounds that control speech intelligibility
Pure Tone
Pure tone: a single frequency of sound
Most sounds are made up of a mixture of frequencies and are called complex sound
(i.e. speech)
Each time a given frequency is doubled, the range between the two frequencies is an
octave
Harmonic: is a multiple of frequency
If you go up one octave above a specific sound, that higher sound is the first
harmonic
If the harmonic is lower in frequency than the specific sound, it is called a
subharmonic
Fundamental frequency
The most prominent sound in a complex sound
The lowest frequency of a vibrating system
the lowest harmonic produced by a periodic sound, generally corresponding to the
sound's pitch
The frequency of each harmonic must be a multiple of the frequency of the lowest
harmonic, or fundamental frequency
The perceptual equivalent of frequency
How you subjectively perceive sound
Not a scientific measurement like frequency
Frequency and pitch are related in that as the frequency of a sound
increases, the listener perceives a tone of a higher and higher pitch
Increases in frequency cause increases in pitch
Decreases in frequency cause decreases in pitch
The physical measurement of what is psychologically perceived as "Loudness“
The intensity of a sound is determined by the amount of movement or
displacement of air particles that occurs as a sound is created
The intensity of a sound wave is the force that moves it to its maximum amplitude
The greater the amount of displacement, the more intense, or louder, the sound
The amount of pressure that sound exerts against the eardrum
Measured in units called decibels (dB)
The normal human ear can hear from about 0dB to about 140 dB(pain)
The perceptual equivalent of intensity
How we subjectively perceive sound
Not a scientific measurement like intensity
Described with words such as "loud", "quite", etc.
The ability under many conditions it is possible even without seeing the
source of a sound, to tell the direction from which it comes
A complex phenomenon resulting from the interaction of both ears
When we localize, we identify the azimuth of a sound source
How we can localize?
b/c of the relative intensities of sounds and their times of arrival at the two
ears (i.e. phase)
Interaural phase differences in the LFs
Intensity differences in the HFs
Reverberation: when the sound is
perceived to come from a direction
other than its source (i.e. acoustic
environment with hard surfaces)
Free-field: an area with no hard
surfaces to cause reverberation
Free fields exists only in such
exotic areas as mountaintops and
specially built anechoic chambers
The way in which one sound can cover up or hide another sound
so that we dont actually hear it, despite the fact that it is present,
either at the same time, or immediately before or after
When two sounds are heard simultaneously, the intensity of one
sound may be sufficient to cause the other to be inaudible
This change in the threshold of a sound caused by a second
sound with which it coexists is called "Masking“
i.e. experiencing masking in noisy situations in the form of
speech interference
The sound that causes the interference is called: " Masker” or
“Noise”
The sound of interest (the sound we want to hear) is often called:
“Signal” or “Target”
Masking plays an important role in clinical audiology
A Convenient way of expressing two lengthy numbers is to use the
Logarithm
Bel: one unit established in such a way
b/c a Bel may have a rather large value, the Decibel, which is one
tenth of a Bel is the unit of measurement of intensity used in
acoustic s and audiometrics
dB: means one tenth of a bell
Named for Alexander Graham Bell
So, Decibel is: the logarithmic ratio between two sound pressures
or two sound powers
Important aspects of the Decibel:
It involves a ratio
It utilizes a logarithm
It is therefore nonlinear
It may be expressed in terms of various reference levels, which must
be specified
It is a relative unit of measure
Intensity Level
Sometimes its useful to express the decibel with an intensity
reference (IL)
Unit: watt per meter squared (watt/m²)
The intensity reference in a given system may be expressed as IR
(the no. of watts of the reference intensity)
The output of a system (e.g. loudspeaker) may be expressed as IO
So the ratio may be set up between the intensity reference and the
intensity output by using this formula:
dB = 10 x log (IO / IR)
Intensity Level
The usual intensity reference (IR) is 10¯ ¹² watt/m² , then the term
Intensity Level (IL) may be used
If IO = IR, the ratio is 1:1, because the log of 1 is 0, then the formula of
dB will give zero number of decibels
0 dB does not mean that sound is absent
Rather, it shows that the intensity output is the same as the intensity
reference
Intensity Level
Remember decibel is a logarithmic expression
If the intensity of a wave is doubled (e.g. by adding a second loudspeaker
of a sound of identical intensity)
The number of decibels is not doubled but is increased by three
So:
Every time sound intensity goes up by 3 dB, it has doubled
Every time sound intensity goes down by 3 dB, it has been halved
Why?
b/c the intensity of the outputs of the two signals and not the number of
decibels are added algebraically according to the principles of wave
interference and the rules for working with logs
Decibel Reference Levels
10 dB or 20 dB had no specific meaning without specifying the
reference for the measure
The Decibel Had Three Reference Levels:
Sound Pressure Level (SPL)
Hearing Level (HL)
Sensation Level (SL)
dB SPL: Decibel Sound pressure level refers to the absolute
reference level for the decibel
dB SPL equals 20 times the log of the ratio of an observed sound
pressure level of 20 microPascals (or 0.0002 dyne/cmº, 0.0002
microbar, 20 micro Newtons/meterº)
because dB SPL is a physical measure, it is not affected by the
frequencies present in sound
dB HL: Decibel hearing level
Decibel notation used on the audiogram that is referenced to
audiometric zero
The human ear is not sensitive to all frequencies at the same
intensity level
Therefore, 0 dB HL represents an intensity equal to the threshold
of hearing sensitivity* of the normal ear at each frequency
Audiometers are calibrated in dB HL so that any decibel value
above 0 dB HL represents a deviation from normal hearing levels
Exp. 25 dB HL is 25 decibels above the normal hearing threshold
for that frequency
* Threshold of hearing sensitivity: lowest intensity level at which an auditory signal is
audible
dB SL: Decibel sensation level
Decibel notation that refers to the number of decibels above a
person's threshold for a given acoustic signal
Exp. Pt.'s threshold is 45 dB HL, a signal presented at 20 dB SL
would be 20 dB above 45 dB HL or at 65 dB HL
Pt’s threshold (45 dB HL) + 20 dB = 65 dB HL
Other Decibel Notations
dB gain
dB nHL
dB peSPL
dB A
dB B
dB C
Environmental Sounds
Frequency and Intensity Function of the
Human Ear
The ear responds to different absolute intensities or different SPLs
as a function of frequency
The ear is most sensitive in the mid-frequencies (1000-15000)Hz
Because audiometers are calibrated in dB HL, no need to know the
absolute dB SPL/HL difference at each frequency
The audiometer automatically corrects for the dB SPL/HL difference
as the frequency is changed
Threshold sensitivity of the normal ear as a function of frequency –
ANSI (1996) reference equivalent threshold sound pressure levels are
required to reach 0 dB HL
