Introduction to Sound: Acoustics for the Hearing and Speech Sciences - Fifth Edition

Charles E. Speaks

Details: 460 pages, Two-Colour, Hardcover, 7" x 10"

ISBN13: 978-1-63550-759-1

Published: 6/5/2024

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Featuring an exciting new chapter on several aspects  of speech acoustics by Raymond D. Kent, PhD!

With a new chapter, the classic textbook, Introduction to Sound: Acoustics for the Hearing and Speech Sciences, is back in a fifth edition and continues its aim to teach fundamental concepts of acoustics to students in communication sciences and disorders and related disciplines. Students of speech-language-hearing science must have a thorough understanding of the elements of acoustics before they can successfully embark on more advanced study of both normal and disordered human communication.

The text is known for how acoustical concepts have been made understandable for all students, not just those who are already grounded in mathematics and physics. Coverage includes the nature of sound waves, simple harmonic motion, acoustic impedance, scales of measure, logarithms and antilogarithms, sound intensity and pressure, complex waves, resonance and filtering, distortion, sound transmissions, speech acoustics, and room acoustics. 

Key Features

• Summaries, Notes, and Practice Problems end each chapter 
• Bolded key terms throughout with end-of-book glossary
• Alphabetical listing of selected equations
• The numerous equations are displayed in blue for easier reading

New to the Fifth Edition

• A new chapter, Basic Principles of Speech Acoustics, written by Raymond D. Kent, PhD
• A special emphasis on editing the content throughout for increased readability and comprehension

PluralPlus Online Ancillary Materials

For instructors: PowerPoint slides
For students: Practice problems, Animations

Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Contributor

Chapter 1. The Nature of Sound Waves

• Properties of the Transmitting Medium
• Properties of the Sound Source
• Sound Source Acting on a Medium
• Fundamental Physical Quantities
• Derived Physical Quantities
• Vibratory Motion of a Spring-Mass System
• The Pendulum: An Example of Slow-Motion Vibration
• Proportionality
• Sound Wave Propagation
• Types of Wave Motion
• Sound Waves
• Transfer of Energy
• Notes
• Practice Problems
  
  

Chapter 2. Simple Harmonic Motion

• The Waveform
• The Concept of Simple Harmonic Motion
• Dimensions of the Sine Wave
• Notes
• Frequently Misunderstood Concepts
• Practice Problems
  
  

Chapter 3. Acoustic Impedance

• Review of Simple Harmonic Motion
• Damping
• Acoustic Impedance
• Summary
• Notes
• Practice Problems

Chapter 4. Scales of Measurement, Logarithms, and Antilogarithms

• Scales of Measurement
• More on Exponents
• The Concept of Logarithms and Antilogarithms
• Antilogs and Logs
• Procedures for Solving Log and Antilog Problems
• Notes
• Practice Problems

Chapter 5. Sound Intensity and Sound Pressure: The Decibel

• Absolute and Relative Measures of Acoustic Power
• Sound Intensity
• The Decibel
• Sound Pressure
• The Relation Between dB IL and dB SPL
• Units of Measure for Pressure
• Conversion From One Reference to Another
• Combining Sound Intensities From Independent Sources
• Summary of Decibels for Sound Intensity and Sound Pressure
• Notes
• Frequently Misunderstood Concepts
• Practice Problems

Chapter 6. Complex Waves

• Fourier's Theorem
• Periodic Waves
• Aperiodic Waves
• Waveform and Spectrum
• Examples of Complex Sound Waves
• Measures of Sound Pressure for Complex Waves
• Signal-to-Noise Ratio in Db
• Notes
• Frequently Misunderstood Concepts
• Practice Problems

Chapter 7. Resonance and Filtering

• Resonance
• Resonance and Filter Curves
• Acoustic Impedance and Resonance
• Frequency-Selective Systems: Filters
• Parameters of a Filter (System Transfer Function)
• Idealized Rectangular Filter
• Types of Filters
• Specification of Level at the Output of Filters
• Another Look at Selected Types of Noise
• Notes
• Frequently Misunderstood Concepts
• Practice Problems

Chapter 8. Distortion

• Frequency Distortion
• Amplitude Distortion
• Transient Distortion
• Practice Problems

Chapter 9. Sound Transmission

• A Free, Unbounded Medium
• The Inverse Square Law
• Reflection
• Refraction
• Diffraction
• Other Phenomena in Sound Transmission
• Notes
• Frequently Misunderstood Concepts
• Practice Problems

Chapter 10. Basic Principles of Speech Acoustics

• Modeling the Source
• Modeling the Filter
• The Spectrogram
• Linear Prediction Analysis
• The F1-F2 Plot
• Acoustic Properties
• Acoustics in Speech Technologies
• Summary
• Practice Problems

Chapter 11. Room Acoustics

• Absorption
• Absorption and Reflection
• Room Acoustics
• Speech Intelligibility: An Overview
• Psychophysical/Behavioral Assessment of Speech Understanding
• Physical/Predictive Assessment of Speech Understanding
• The Design/Redesign Team
• A Closing Comment
• Notes
• Practice Problems

Glossary
Answers to Practice Problems
Alphabetical Listing of Selected Equations
References
Index