Kinds of Reflective Sounds – In everyday life, does Sinaumed’s realize that the sound we hear actually reflects?
Yep, just like a ball that is reflected on the ground, the sound produced by humans, animals, or inanimate objects also bounces, you know… It’s just that the appearance of the reflected sound is intangible because sound also doesn’t have a form . Sinaumed’s also needs to know that sound is also a form of energy.
Then, what are the kinds of reflected sounds? Let’s look at the following review so that Sinaumed’s understands the reflected sound.
What the heck is that sound?
Before discussing the various types of reflected sounds, we must first understand what sound is. Yep, the sound is the same as the sound. This sound or voice can be produced by humans, animals, even objects that are around us.
Based on the Big Indonesian Dictionary (KBBI) sound means something that is heard or heard by the human ear. If an illustration is made, the sound has a wave shape. Well, as explained earlier that sound is also a form of energy. The sound energy comes from a vibrating object, from the vibrations that propagate it is called a wave.
Sound is a longitudinal wave that propagates in a dense and stretched manner formed by intermediary particles (air molecules) and generated by sound sources that experience vibrations. From the sound that propagates will later reach the ear until finally it can be heard and understood by the brain.
Most sounds can be measured in Hertz (Hz) and loudness can be measured in decibels .
What Is Sound Energy?
Sound energy is all abilities that occur due to the influence of sound. Even when we talk or walk later it will make a sound. Well, all of these sounds are of course produced by a sound source.
Sound Source
Sound sources are objects that produce a sound, and there are many types because not all sounds are produced by a single source. An example is the guitar musical instrument, the source of the sound is in the form of strings. In addition, the way the sound source works in order to produce a sound also varies.
Discussion about the source of the sound will not be separated from the existence of resonance. Resonance is the vibration of an object because of another object, so that the sound produced becomes louder and stronger. The existence of this resonance is usually used in musical activities, with a tool called a resonator.
Please note that the sound will sound strong or loud when our ears are near the sound source. Well, the resulting sound will be strong, weak, shrill, or low-pitched.
Based on the strength and weakness of the sound (frequency), the sound can be divided into 3 types, namely:
1. Infrasound
Infrasound is a very weak sound with an approximate number of sound vibrations of less than 20 Hz per second. The human ear cannot hear the sound, only certain animals can hear it, for example dogs, cats, crickets, and others.
2. Audiosonics
Audiosonics is a type of sound that has a vibration of about 20 to 20,000 Hz per second. With this vibration size, of course the human ear can catch and hear it.
3. Ultrasonic
Ultrasonic is a type of sound that has a very strong frequency, even above audiosonic. The number of sound vibrations is more than about 20,000 Hz per second. However, even though it has strong sound vibrations, the human ear cannot perceive and hear it. Only certain animals can hear it, such as dolphins and bats.
Kinds of Reflective Sounds
It should be noted that the reflected sound is the sound that occurs because a sound wave hits a reflective surface, then the sound wave will be reflected back by the reflective surface. There are several types of reflected sounds, namely echoes and echoes.
1. Echoes
An echo sound is a type of reflected sound that sounds less clear, not even as clear as the original sound. This echo sound usually occurs because the reflected sound has been mixed with the original sound.
Reverberation usually occurs at a distance between reflective walls of about 10 to 20 meters, and occurs inside buildings, such as concert halls, cinema halls, and conference halls.
For example, you are watching a DAY6 concert, then the vocalist shouts the word “Lari”, later as a result of the echo sound, you will hear the word “run” with a pause. Here’s an illustration:
Original sound: la – ri
Reflected sound: la — ri
Sounds heard: la ———— ri
2. Echo Sound
Echo sound is a type of reflected sound that is heard after the original sound. This means that the sound of the reflected sound will appear with a delay not too long after the original sound has been produced. This echo occurs because the sound source and the reflecting wall are far apart.
In contrast to echoes, this echo occurs on cliffs, caves, hillsides, to football stadiums, which have a distance between the reflecting walls of more than 20 meters. For example, when you are in a cave, you shout the word ” Help “, then the reflected sound of the word ” Please ” will come out after the original sound disappears.
3. Amplify Original Sound
The next type of reflected sound is that which strengthens the original sound. Unlike the previous reflected sound, in this type the reflected sound will actually amplify the original sound, because the distance between the sound source and the reflecting wall is very close, so the time needed for the sound to reflect back is also very short.
Therefore, this type of reflected sound will be heard and considered at the same time as the original sound, even the original sound can be heard louder. Usually this happens when you sing in the shower.
The strength of the sound depends on several factors, namely:
- Resonance
- Amplitude (maximum deviation of a wave that will affect the sound strength ) of the sound source
- The distance between the sound source and the listener
- The distance between the listener and the reflecting wall
Benefits of Reflected Sound
- Can be used to measure the depth of the sea, especially in the ultrasonic sound.
- To detect the fetus in the womb, usually using infrasound.
- To detect damage to a metal.
- There are speakers on the radio, television, to cell phones. Usually using audiosonic sound.
- For the search for ships or metal treasures on the seabed.
What are the Properties of Sound Energy?
Sound energy has special properties, namely it can move to another place, by propagating through certain media. Not only that, sound can also be reflected and absorbed.
1. Sound Can Travel Through Solids, Liquids, and Gases
Many people think that sound can only propagate through solids, when in fact, sound can also propagate in liquids and gases, you know…
The vibrations produced by sound will later propagate in the form of waves, therefore they are called sound waves. Well, sound waves can travel through solids, liquids, and gases. Even the fastest propagation is when through the air. An example is when ringing a bell.
- Through solid objects, for example when playing the telephone using strings and cans. Sound waves will propagate through the strings to our ears.
- Through liquid objects such as when two stones are dropped into water
- Through gaseous substances, for example when birds sing and their sound vibrations enter our ears. Then, there is also the sound of thunder when it rains.
You also need to know, Sinaumed’s, that sound cannot travel in a vacuum. A vacuum is a room that has no air in it.
2. Sound Can Be Absorbed and Reflected ( Reflection )
When a sound wave propagates in a solid object and hits the surface of the object, the sound will be absorbed or even reflected. For example, sound hitting the surface of a cave will reflect off to form an echo.
The types of reflected sounds have been discussed in the previous point, namely there are echoes, echoes, and sounds that are heard after the original sound. Even though the sound is reflected and causes the original sound to not be heard clearly, there are many benefits, you know, from the presence of this reflected sound, one of which is to detect a potential fetus in a mother’s womb.
3. Sound Can Experience Refraction ( Refraction )
Not only light is refracted, but also sound. This is because light and sound both have waves, where the main characteristic of waves is to experience refraction.
An example of a sound refraction event is when at night there is a louder sound of thunder than during the day.
This is because during the day, the upper layer of air is colder than the lower layer. Therefore, the speed of sound is slower in colder temperatures than in hotter temperatures, so the speed of sound in the upper layers of air is lower than in the lower layers.
4. Sound Can Experiencing Flexion ( Diffraction )
Sound waves are very easy to experience bending or diffraction because sound waves in the air have wavelengths in the range of centimeters to several meters.
An example of this sound diffraction is when we can already hear the sound of a vehicle’s engine at a road bend, even though we haven’t seen the vehicle because it is blocked by the buildings around the road bend.
5. Sounds Experiencing Mixture ( Interference )
It turns out that sound waves can experience symptoms of combination or interference. Well, this interference is divided into two types, namely constructive interference (sound amplification) and destructive interference (sound attenuation).
An example of sound wave interference is when we are between two loudspeakers with the same frequency and amplitude, then later we will hear alternating loud and weak sounds.
Sound Requirements
Even though the sound can be produced by anyone and anything, in order for it to be heard by human ears and animal ears, it also requires several conditions, namely there must be a medium, a source of sound, and a listener.
1. There is Medium
Previously, it was explained that the sound can propagate through solid objects, liquids, and gas objects. Well, these objects can become a medium for sound propagation to occur. Therefore there is a statement that sound cannot be produced in a vacuum.
The presence of the medium also contributes to the speed of sound. An example is the sound of thunder. The sound of thunder can be caught by human and animal ears because it propagates through the air. If the air has a temperature of around 20०C then the speed of sound is 343 m per second.
It’s different if the medium is a liquid, then the speed of sound is around 1,500 m per second. The speed of sound is usually used to search for treasure or ships on the seabed.
Then in the medium in the form of solid objects, especially steel, the speed of propagation is around 6,000 m per second. This experiment on the speed of propagation of sound in a solid medium can be carried out simply by tapping the table with a pencil.
2. There is a Sound Source
The source of the sound is the vibration of the object that produces the sound. The closer our ears are to the sound source, the louder and clearer the sound will be. Examples of sound sources are the sound of a guitar coming from plucked strings, the sound of a drum coming from animal skins being beaten, and so on.
3. There is a Listener
So, those who can hear various sounds around us are humans and animals. How can sound be heard? Namely by relying on the sense of hearing in the form of ears.
Sound Characteristics
- Tone is a sound that has a regular frequency
- Wheezing is a sound that has an irregular frequency
- Timbre is the color of sound, which is in the form of the overall auditory impression obtained by our ears from the sound source.
- A boom is a sound that has a large amplitude and is heard suddenly.
Benefits of Sound for Human Life
The existence of sound is of course very beneficial for human life in various fields, including even in the health sector. So, here are the benefits of sound:
- Detects the presence of tumors in the human body.
- Destroys kidney stones in the human body.
- Ultrasound ( ultrasound ), which is a method for detecting a fetus in a mother’s womb. In this case, it will usually use ultrasonic waves.
- To measure the depth of the sea, detect the presence of mines, search for sunken ships, and locate groups of fish using SONAR ( Sound Navigating Ranging ).
- To detect the oil and mineral content in the earth, especially using ultrasonic waves.
- To measure the length of cave passages and investigate metal damage, using sound reflection.
- The tones sung by humans can be used to study the expression of human thoughts, motivations and emotions.
Well, that’s an explanation of the various types of reflected sound and the benefits of sound for everyday human life. Even though sound is closely related to our lives, without realizing it, it turns out that the existence of sound is very useful, isn’t it?
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