Sound / Auditory Mechanism Midterm

Front 1

Air Pressure

Back 1

air molecules collide producing pressure
moves ear drum inward and outward
measured in dynes

Front 2

Volume and Density
Boyle's Law

Back 2

volume is the amount of space occupied in three dimension
density is the amount of mass per unit of volume
boyle's law states that as volume increases, pressure decreases (inverse relationship)

Front 3

compression

Back 3

when molecules approach and collide

Front 4

rarefaction

Back 4

as the molecules return to their original positions they swing farther away to the other side of their original positions resulting in an increased distance between the molecules.

Front 5

elasticity

Back 5

refers to an object being able to spring back to its original size, form, location and shape after being stretched, displaced or deformed.

Front 6

inertia

Back 6

tendency of matter to remain at rest or in motion unless acted on by an outside force

Front 7

Hooke's Law

Back 7

restoring force is proportional to the distance of displacement and acts in the opposite direction

Front 8

longitudinal wave motion

Back 8

individual air molecules move parallel to the direction that the wave is traveling

Front 9

transverse wave motion

Back 9

individual molecules move up and down at right angles to the direction that the wave is traveling.

Front 10

simple harmonic motion

Back 10

regular, smooth, back and forth movement with a characteristic pattern of acceleration through the rest position and deceleration at the end points of movement.

Front 11

speed of sound through different mediums

Back 11

less dense mediums: sound moves faster
more dense mediums: sound moves slower

Front 12

frequency

Back 12

rate at which an object vibrates and is measured in hertz (Hz)

Front 13

pitch

Back 13

how we perceive the sensation of sound as being high or low on a musical scale

Front 14

constructive interference

Back 14

combining of waves that results in increased amplitude

Front 15

destructive interference

Back 15

combining of waves the results in decreased amplitude

Front 16

absorption

Back 16

damping of a wave with diminishing changes in air pressure due to friction

Front 17

reflection

Back 17

some portion of the sound that is not transmitted or absorbed bounces back from the surface of the boundary and travels in the opposite direction of the incident wave

Front 18

afferent pathways

Back 18

transmit information from sensory receptors towards the Central Nervous System

Front 19

efferent pathways

Back 19

transmit information from Central Nervous System towards muscles and glands

Front 20

dendrites

Back 20

transmit nerve impulses towards the cell body

Front 21

axon

Back 21

transmit nerve impulses away from the cell body

Front 22

breathing for life

Back 22

unconsciou, automatic process with the rate and extent of breathing determined by the needs of our bodies at that time

Front 23

breathing for speech

Back 23

need for appropriate gas exchange is integrated with linguistic considerations

Front 24

vocal register: pulse

Back 24

range of very low Fo which perceptually creates a creaky popping sort of sound (vocal fry, glottal fry, creaky voice)

Front 25

vocal register: falsetto

Back 25

very high range of Fo, sometimes called loft register

Front 26

vocal register: modal

Back 26

most commonly used in normal conversational speech

Front 27

periodic

Back 27

a wave in which every cycle takes the same amount of time to occur as every other cycle

Front 28

aperiodic

Back 28

a wave in which individual cycles do not take the same amount of time to occur

Front 29

inverse square law spherical wave

Back 29

Double the distance, energy spreads over 4x the area -6dB

Front 30

inverse square law cylindrical wave

Back 30

double the distance, only spreads over 2x area -3dB