References on the Physics of Sound

NOTE: This page will be replaced sometime in the late summer of 2012 by by Sound: An Interactive eText (under construction).

The following are links to various material presented in P105; Basic Physics of Sound at IUS. Please feel free to send me any reference material you feel would be a useful addition to this list. Corrections (broken links, mispellings, etc.) would be useful too. I will update this list as the semestor progresses.

Updated: 03/28/2011

Wikipedia entries are useful and generally accurate (when in doubt, track down the references they list).
A list of basic physics topics.
- Math Review.
- Newton's laws, conservation of energy.
- List of concepts and quiz hints (check Wikipedia or your book for definitions- I will add to this as the semester progresses).
- Mini-Labs.
Forinash's simulations on Waves.
HyperPhysics on Sound.
MiniLabs for the semester.
Speed of sound for various materials.
Grove Music Online is an online dictionary with thousands of articles about people, instruments etc. all related to music.
Audacity is a free sound analysis program.
Waves.
- Radio wave simulation
- The electromagnetic spectrum
- Reflection YouTube
- Total internal reflection YouTube
- Total internal reflection (in water stream) YouTube
- Reflection and refraction YouTube
- Ripple tank reflection YouTube
- Refraction YouTube
- Ripple tank refraction YouTube
- The broken straw YouTube
- Snell's law YouTube
- Phase.
- Phase YouTube
- Surface refraction of sound
- Colliding pulses YouTube
- Two source ripple tank YouTube
- Peacock YouTube
- CD diffraction YouTube
- DVD and BlueRay diffraction YouTube
- Ripple tank diffraction YouTube
Fourier analysis
- Adding waves
- oboe and flute, oboe and clarinet
- Simulation
- Overtones and harmonics
Auditory phenomena.
- Loudness, pitch, timbre and hearing loss
- Hearing ranges of animals
- The human ear, cochlea detail
- Just Noticeable Difference (loudness and pitch)
- Decibels, Decibels, Decibels
- Institute of Design, Japan: Auditory Illusions
- Endless scale illusion.
- Carnegie Mellon University page on Perception
- Place theory
- Critical bands
- Periodicity theory
Acoustics
- NASA web site on auditory research
- Reflection: one, two, three, four
- Reverberation/attenuation: one, two, three, four
- Diffraction
- Standing waves
- Absorption and reverb time
- Acoustics in a small room.
- University of New South Wales, School of Physics: Musical Acoustics
  - Acoustical impedance (definition)
- Feedback, speakers
- Directional perception
- Sonic boom YouTube
- Physics Today acoustics archive of research in acoustics
Musical scales
- Instructor notes on scales. Frequencies of various scales.
- Pythagorean scale.
  - Song1
  - Song2
- Ptolemy (Just) scale.
- Vallotti
  - SongB
- Mean tempered
  - SongA
- Equal Tempered
  - Chords
  - Song1
  - Song2
  - SongA
  - SongB
- Pierre Lewis: Temperaments
- Java Tuner (plays scales in different temperaments)
- Music by Bill Sethares using alternate tunings (click on mp3s for listening)
Woodwind instruments.
- Fipple one, two
- Impedance (obo, saxophone)
- Holes in tube, flared tube, flute versus clarinet shape
- Flute: hole sequence, picture, spectra, tuning errors, Base flute YouTube
- Clarinet: picture, spectra, sound Old clarinet
- Saxophone: picture, vintage saxophones ; modern saxophone
- Obo, modern bassoon, antique instruments
- Organ: reed and tuning, spectra, attack frequencies
Brass instruments
- Trumpet or trombone: valves, trombone, impedance, flared tube, frequencies, radiance, mutes
Stringed instruments
- Strings: simple, real harmonics, plucked harmonics, plucked spectra, bowed, bridges
- Resonance, guitar body
- Violin: pictures, spectra, sound direction, structure
- Viola de gamba YouTube
- Article about plucked strings
Piano (Clavichord, harpsichord etc.)
- Clavichord/harpsichord mechanism
- Piano: mechanism, strings, body, top, spectra
- Sounds: Clavichord, Harpsichord, Piano (YouTube)
Percussion instruments
- Modes: one, two
- Drum: top, head, modes, sides
- Vibration modes: bell, hand bell, glockenspiel, marimba, steel drum, chime, triangle
- Hologram of bell modes.
- decay time
- Article on Hang acoustics
- Gamelan videos: one, two, three, four YouTube
- Tabla YouTube.
The human voice
- Vocal cords, vocal tract, video of vocal cords, vocal sounds
- Phoneme
- Formants: one, two, three, four, five
- Sound samples
- MRI video of singing sopranos
- Voice with helium and sulfur hexafluride.
Modern instruments:
- Pictures and info: one; two, with sounds, with sounds, pictures, more pictures
Other instruments
- Harmonicas and other free reed instruments (with sound samples)
- Pitch-bending accordion
- Renaissance Instruments
- Hurdy Gurdy YouTube
- Tin whistle YouTube
- Theremin YouTube: one, two, three
- Sounds and pictures of antique instruments: one, two, three
- Sound samples (some of instruments): one, two, three
- Experimental Instruments Web site
Resonance.
- Air track resonance
- Resonance cart
- Swing: 1, 2, 3, 4
- Haunted Swing.
- Destructive Resonance
- Bridges: One ;Two; Tacoma Narrows
- Earthquakes: One, two, three
- Electric resonance: One, Two, Three
- Magnetic resonance: One, Two
- String resonance: One, Two, formulas
- Tube resonances: open and closed, with hole
- Singing rod
- Chladni plates
- Chlandi pictures: New South Wales and more
- Glass harmonica
- Singing bowl: One, Two
- Water: Sound driven, Bay of Fundy
- Breaking glass with sound: One, Two
Audio electronics (search Wikipedia, YouTube or other sources for basic principles of electromagnetism and Faraday's law).
- Magnets (1: currents create magnetic fields)
- Earth's magnetic field (Wikipedia)
- electric motors (2: current in a magnetic field feels a force
- Faraday's law (3: changing magnetic fields cause voltage)
- Generators, transformers
- Schematic of electronic transmission/recording
- Speakers: one, two
- Microphone: one, two, three
- Tape/computer hard drive: read/write
- CD: one, two, three
- Amplification, distortion, suppression
- AM, FM, AM/FM transmission
Miscellaneous
- Wikipedia pages on noise: white noise, pink noise, Brownina noise
- A few useful video demos from Wake Forest University
- Interesting YouTube of audio pickup from various objects.
- Muliphonics
- Sounds from the Mayan ruins at Chichenitza: Sounds ; Spectrogram
- Chinese spouting bowl video
- Singing sand dunes
- NOAA's Ocean Acoustic Monitoring Program
- Best of the Web on acoustics, ultrasound and vibration
Books:
- Measuring Tones: The Interplay of Physics and Music, I. Johnson.
- The Physics of Musical Sound, J. Josephs.
- The Musician's guide to Acoustics, M. Campell and C. Greated.
- The Science of Sound, T. D. Rossing.
- Musical Acoustics, D. E. Hall.
- Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics, A. H. Benade.
- Musical Acoustics: Selected Reprints, ed. T. D. Rossing.
- Principles of Vibration and Sound, T. D. Rossing and N. H. Fletcher.
- The Physics of Musical Instruments, T. D. Rossing and N. H. Fletcher.
- Musical Sound, M. J. Moravcsik.
Articles:
- K. Forinash, R. Wisman, C. Lang, N. Couzin; "Free and easy sound analysis." Invited talk, AAPT summer meeting, Sacramento 2004.

Go To: o: IUS Physics Top Page.
Contact Dr. K. Forinash, for comments/suggestions/corrections.

References on the Physics of Sound

Books:

Articles: