Abstract
Sound is a wave that travels in an elastic medium. In particular, sound in the air, such as musical tones, speech, or bird-song, is a longitudinal wave in which change in the local density of the air is propagated. Sound waves in the air can be characterized by sound pressure or particle velocity due to the dilation or condensation of a local area of the air. The direction of the particle velocity or displacement of a longitudinal wave is parallel to that in which the wave is travelling. The energy preservation law of sound waves defines the speed of sound. In the last section of this chapter, sound radiated by vibration will also be discussed.
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© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Tohyama, M. (2011). Waves and Speed of Sound in the Air. In: Sound and Signals. Signals and Communication Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-20122-6_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-20122-6_6
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-20121-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-20122-6
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