ACOUSTICS; The word acoustics is derived from the greek word (akoustikos) meaning ''if or for hearing'',ready to hear.Acoustics is the indisplinary science that deals with the study of all mechanical waves in the gases,liquids and solids including vibration, sound ,ultrasound and infrasound.It is a scientifc study of a sound especially of its generation transmission and reception.
A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician while someone working in the field of acoustics can be seen in almost all aspects of modern society with most obvious being the audio and noise control industry.
Hearing is one of the most crucial survival for animal world and speech is one of the most distinctive characteristics of human development and culture.So it is not surprised that the science of acoustics spreads across so many facets of our society -music,medicine,architecture,industrial production,warfare and more.
Acousticians had extended their studies to frequencies above and below audible range.It became conventional to identify these frequency ranges as ultrasound and infrasonic respectively.''Acoustics'' refers to the entire frequency range without limit.
Aristotle understood the sound consisted of contractions and expansions of the air ''falling upon and striking the air which is next to it....'' a very good expression of the nature of wave motion.The physical understanding of acoustical processes advanced rapidly during and after the scientific revolution.Mainly GALILEO GALILEI (1564 -1642) but also MARTIN MERSENNE (1588 -1648) independently discovered the complete laws of vibrating strings.Galileo wrote ''waves are produced by the vibrations of snorous body,which spread through the air,bringing to the tympanum of the ear stimulus which the mind interprets sound,a remarkable statement that points to the beginnings of physiological and psychological acoustics.
FUNDAMENTALS CONCEPTS OF ACOUSTICS;
Acoustics looks first at the pressure level and frequencies in the sound wave.Transduction processes are also a special importance.
Psychoacoustics includes topics and studies which are relevant to music psychology and music therapy.
Mnay people mistakenely think that acoustics is strictly musical and architectural in nature but it also covers a vast range of topics includeing;Noise control, sonar for submarine,navigation,ultrasounds for medical imagining,thermocoustics,refrigeration,seismology,boiacoustics communication.
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