PSYC2010 Study Guide - Quiz Guide: Anxiolytic, Fluphenazine, Gaba Receptor
Document Summary
Sounds are small changes of a large steady pressure: a sound is a wave of mechanical disturbance that moves away from the sound source slowly, whereas, a light wave is electromagnetic radiation. Sound intensity is a measure of the energy of a sound wave and is a quantitative term that refers to a specific physical measurement: the energy carried by a wave through an area per unit of time. The intensity varies as the square of the wave"s amplitude. Similar to statistics, the amplitude is the variance of the standard sound/standard deviation. The threshold for human hearing is 1000hz tone is 20 pa. The threshold for auditory pain is 100,000,000 pa: root mean square, rms, reference pressure = 20. The answer is in decibels: because log is used, doubling the pressure corresponds to a constant increase in decibels. For loudness: decibel scale begins at the human threshold not at 0.
