Sound

Characeristics of Sound

Loudness: the amplitude of the vibrations

Soft	LOUD
A 256 Hz tone	A 256 Hz tone four times bigger in amplitude

Question: Does the loud tone sound four times louder?

Frequency: how rapidly the vibrations occur

Low-Frequency	High-Frequency
A 256 Hz tone	A 512 Hz tone

Question: Does the high-frequency tone sound twice as high?

Location: where is the sound coming from?

Low-Frequency	High-Frequency
Locate based on time differences: It takes longer for sound to travel to the left ear than the right. Occurs for frequencies less than 1,000 Hz.	Locate based on amplitude differences: The sound at the right ear is louder than at the left. Occurs for frequencies greater than about 5,000 Hz.

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