SOUND PRODUCTION 

Sound is the physical cause of hearing. Anything that you hear is a sound. However, before sound can be produced, three basic elements must be present: SOUND SOURCE, a MEDIUM, and a DETECTOR. See figure 2-1-1.

Any object that vibrates or disturbs the medium around it may become a sound source.

Bells, radio speaker diaphragms, and stringed instruments are familiar sound sources. The sound source is the initial requirement in the production of sound.

The second element needed to produce sound, the medium, is the element that carries the sound. Your alarm clock goes off and you are awakened by the sound. The sound reaches your ears through the air in your bedroom. Air is a medium. Particles in the air carry the sound to you. Noises or sound are also heard underwater, because particles in water carry sound. A more dense medium than that of air or water is that of steel. A person can detect an approaching train far faster by pressing his or her ear to a train rail than by standing alongside the track listening for its approach.

The medium is the controller of sound. It controls how far and how fast sound travels. Sound travels faster, farther, and with more ease through mediums of high elasticity and density. In general, solids are better transmitters of sound than either liquids or gases.

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