Lecture

Pitch and Frequency: Characteristics and Perception

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In course

EE-548: Audio engineering

This lecture is oriented towards the study of audio engineering, room acoustics, sound propagation, and sound radiation from sources and acoustic antennas. The learning outcomes will be the techniques for microphones and loudspeaker design, as well as room ...

Description

This lecture covers the concepts of pitch and frequency in sound, explaining how pitch is related to the highness or lowness of a sound and how it affects our ability to recognize melodies. It also discusses the Frequency Difference Limen (FDL) and its role in distinguishing pitches. The harmonic pitch, timbre, and the effects of phase differences on harmonics are explored. Additionally, the lecture delves into beats, vibrato, and tremolo in sound perception, as well as the ear's selectivity towards different frequencies and musical scales.

Instructor

Hervé Lissek

Expertise Acoustics and audio engineering, Electroacoustics.Room acoustics.Active noise control.Acoustic metamaterials.Assisted reverberation.Psychoacoustics.Sound spatialization Expertise Acoustics and audio engineering, Electroacoustics.Room acoustics.Active noise control.Acoustic metamaterials.Assisted reverberation.Psychoacoustics.Sound spatialization Mission Head of the Acoustic Group at the Laboratory of Wave Engineering LWE. Research topics :Active Electroacoustic Resonators: turning conventional lou

Official source

Related concepts (32)

Scale (music)

In music theory, a scale is any set of musical notes ordered by fundamental frequency or pitch. A scale ordered by increasing pitch is an ascending scale, and a scale ordered by decreasing pitch is a descending scale. Often, especially in the context of the common practice period, most or all of the melody and harmony of a musical work is built using the notes of a single scale, which can be conveniently represented on a staff with a standard key signature.

Music and mathematics

Music theory analyzes the pitch, timing, and structure of music. It uses mathematics to study elements of music such as tempo, chord progression, form, and meter. The attempt to structure and communicate new ways of composing and hearing music has led to musical applications of set theory, abstract algebra and number theory. While music theory has no axiomatic foundation in modern mathematics, the basis of musical sound can be described mathematically (using acoustics) and exhibits "a remarkable array of number properties".

Harmonic series (music)

A harmonic series (also overtone series) is the sequence of harmonics, musical tones, or pure tones whose frequency is an integer multiple of a fundamental frequency. Pitched musical instruments are often based on an acoustic resonator such as a string or a column of air, which oscillates at numerous modes simultaneously. At the frequencies of each vibrating mode, waves travel in both directions along the string or air column, reinforcing and canceling each other to form standing waves.

Musical acoustics

Musical acoustics or music acoustics is a multidisciplinary field that combines knowledge from physics, psychophysics, organology (classification of the instruments), physiology, music theory, ethnomusicology, signal processing and instrument building, among other disciplines. As a branch of acoustics, it is concerned with researching and describing the physics of music – how sounds are employed to make music.

Audio frequency

An audio frequency or audible frequency (AF) is a periodic vibration whose frequency is audible to the average human. The SI unit of frequency is the hertz (Hz). It is the property of sound that most determines pitch. The generally accepted standard hearing range for humans is 20 to 20,000 Hz. In air at atmospheric pressure, these represent sound waves with wavelengths of to . Frequencies below 20 Hz are generally felt rather than heard, assuming the amplitude of the vibration is great enough.

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