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The sound waves are generated by a sound source, such as the vibrating diaphragm of a stereo speaker. The sound source creates vibrations in the surrounding medium. As the source continues to vibrate the medium, the vibrations propagate away from the source at the speed of sound, thus forming the sound wave.
An acoustic wave is a mechanical wave that transmits energy through the movements of atoms and molecules. Acoustic waves transmit through fluids in a longitudinal manner (movement of particles are parallel to the direction of propagation of the wave); in contrast to electromagnetic waves that transmit in transverse manner (movement of particles at a right angle to the direction of propagation ...
Sound waves are reflected and attenuated when they hit the auricle, and these changes provide additional information that will help the brain determine the sound direction. The sound waves enter the auditory canal, a deceptively simple tube. The ear canal amplifies sounds that are between 3 and 12 kHz. [1]
The varying air pressure of sound waves imparts mechanical vibrations to the diaphragm which can then be converted to some other type of signal; examples of this type of diaphragm are found in microphones and the human eardrum. Conversely a diaphragm vibrated by a source of energy beats against the air, creating sound waves.
Sound waves travel through the outer ear, are modulated by the middle ear, and are transmitted to the vestibulocochlear nerve in the inner ear. This nerve transmits information to the temporal lobe of the brain, where it is registered as sound. Sound that travels through the outer ear impacts on the eardrum, and causes it to vibrate.
Rarefaction waves expand with time (much like sea waves spread out as they reach a beach); in most cases rarefaction waves keep the same overall profile ('shape') at all times throughout the wave's movement: it is a self-similar expansion. Each part of the wave travels at the local speed of sound, in the local medium.
Typically sound waves at ultrasonic frequencies are used [4] thus creating no sound audible to humans. This is primarily due to the high intensity of sound required to counteract gravity. However, there have been cases of audible frequencies being used. [5] A Langevin horn type standing wave acoustic levitator at the Argonne National Laboratory
More specifically, it is necessary that the dimensions of the rooms or obstacles in the sound path should be much greater than the wavelength. If the characteristic dimensions for a given problem become comparable to the wavelength, then wave diffraction begins to play an important part, and this is not covered by geometric acoustics. [1]