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Measurement Techniques

  • Chapter
Springer Handbook of Systematic Musicology

Part of the book series: Springer Handbooks ((SHB))

Abstract

The measurements normally required to understand the physics of musical instruments, including the human voice, usually fall into one of three categories: measuring the airborne sound, measuring the deflection of the surface of an instrument, or measuring the input impedance. This chapter introduces the most common measurement techniques that provide information on these three physical parameters with an emphasis on the first two, which are the measurements most commonly desired by musical acousticians. The chapter begins with a discussion of airborne sound and how it is sensed. Specifically, several types of microphones are introduced followed by a discussion of some of the techniques that rely on sensing by microphones. A review of the techniques for measuring and visualizing deflection shapes is then presented. These techniques range from observing nodal lines using simple Chladni patterns to visualizing deflection shapes using electronic speckle pattern interferometry. The topic of impedance measurement is addressed next, with discussions of both measurements of the input impedance of wind instruments and the measurement of mechanical impedance. This review is not meant to be a complete analysis of each measurement technique. Instead, it is meant to serve as an introduction to the most commonly used techniques and provide references for the interested reader to pursue further study. The advent of new technologies continually changes the equipment that is available to the scientist, but the underlying physical principles remain relevant.

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Abbreviations

BIAS:

brass instrument analysis system

CCD:

charge-coupled device

DESPI:

decorrelated electronic speckle pattern interferometry

ESPI:

electronic speckle pattern interferometry

FRF:

frequency response function

LDV:

laser Doppler vibrometry

MEMS:

micro-electric mechanical system

NAH:

near-field acoustic holography

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Physics, Rollins College, 1000 Holt Ave., FL 32789, Winter Park, USA

    Thomas Moore

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  1. Thomas Moore
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Correspondence to Thomas Moore .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Systematic Musicology, University of Hamburg, Neue Rabenstr. 13, 20354, Hamburg, Germany

    Rolf Bader

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Moore, T. (2018). Measurement Techniques. In: Bader, R. (eds) Springer Handbook of Systematic Musicology. Springer Handbooks. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-55004-5_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-55004-5_5

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