Sound

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Chapter 15 Sound

Sound is a mechanical wave that is responsible for the sensory experience of hearing. We can hear a sound wave in air if its frequency lies between $20\text{ Hz}$ and $20\text{ kHz}\text{.}$ This range of frequencies is called the audible range. Sound waves of frequencies above $20\text{ kHz}$ are called ultrasound, and those below $20\text{ Hz}$ the infrasound.

Sound waves are generated by vibrating objects at the source, such as the vocal chord, a guitar string, membrane of a drum, spaker, etc., and propagate through a medium, most commonly air, from one location to another. Sound is also detected by the sound wave causing to vibrate a membrane or a plate, e.g., in the ear drum and in microphone. Since sound is a mechanical wave, it has all the properties of mechanical waves we have described in the previous chapter.

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