Acoustics: Sound is simply vibrating air. How fast, how much, and when the air is vibrated, determines what we will ultimately hear as sound. The science of this process is called acoustics. When a speaker cone (or anything else that has the ability to vibrate in the auditory range) moves forward, the air molecules in front of the cone are compressed, causing the molecules to form an accelerating wave forward. This continues to happen until the speaker cone moves in the opposite direction, which causes a rarefaction (or thinning) of the air mass between the speaker and the listener. This is the basic concept of how sound waves are produced.

 

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Acoustics: Sound is simply vibrating air. How fast, how much, and when the air is vibrated, determines what we will ultimately hear as sound. The science of this process is called acoustics. When a spe . . . View Full Definition

Psychoacoustics: The scientific study of the relationship between human hearing and its stimulus; in other words, how we hear.

Standing Wave: A phenomenon where a sound is reflected between two parallel surfaces, such that certain sounds are made more intense and others diminished in given parts of a listening environment. Technic . . . View Full Definition

Ringing: The tendency for any vibrating surface to continue to produce the same frequency. This is limited by the decay time over which the inertia of other forces act to repress the motion. In acous . . . View Full Definition