PSYC 2P49 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Sine Wave, Fundamental Frequency, Logarithmic Scale
14 Dec 2016
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Document Summary
Causes molecules in the surrounding medium to vibrate. Vibrations create changes in pressure in the medium. Pressure changes act as waves (peaks and valleys) Sound like light, travels until something gets in the way. Spread out over larger areas of space. The initial amount of pressure changes spread out, becoming less prominent. The magnitude (size) of the change in pressure between the peaks and valleys of the wave. Logarithmic scale (we can hear over a large range of pressure changes) Measures pressure reference to a reference point: frequency. How quickly the wave changes between cycles (peak-to-peak or valley-to-valley) Corresponds to the perceptual quality of pitch. As with light we are more sensitive to stimuli in a particular range : The amount of intensity (dbs) required to hear a given pitch (frequency) varies across age, species, etc. The type of waveform describe before is a sine wave. In reality most sounds are combinations of sine waves.
