Neville H. Fletcher - Böcker

This book is a practical guide for researchers and advanced graduate students in biology and biophysics who need a quantitative understanding of acoustical systems such as hearing, sound production, and vibration detection in animals at the physiological level. It begins with an introduction to physical acoustics directed explicitly at their needs, covering the fundamental concepts and showing how they can be applied quantitatively to understand animals' auditory and sound-producing systems. Only after the relatively simple mechanical part of the system is explained does the author focus his attention on the underlying physiological processes.

This book discusses the physics of mechanical vibrating systems, emphasizing normal modes of vibration. Beginning with the basics of free and forced motions of a simple harmonic oscillator (with electrical analogs indicated where appropriate), it goes on to discuss vibrations in one-dimensional systems, such as strings and bars, and two-dimensional systems, such as membranes and plates. The discussion of coupled systems includes strong as well as weak coupling and presents both mechanical and electrical examples. The treatment includes nonlinear systems and self-excited oscillators, as well as a brief explanation of modal analysis, including finite-element methods and modal testing. The concluding third of the book discusses the propagation of sound in air, including radiation, transmission, absorption, and diffraction. The treatment of radiation covers point, dipole, line, plane, and other sources, both with and without baffles. Propagation of sound in various kinds and shapes of pipes, horns and other acoustic components is discussed.Suitable as a text for advanced undergraduates, the book provides the foundations needed to understand the acoustics of rooms and musical instruments as well as the basics for scientists and engineers interested in noise and vibration. The new edition will have new chapters on: transducers, room acoustics, atmospheric propagation, and noise. The other chapters will be brought up to date (incorporating all revisions made in the latest edition of "The Physics of Musical Instruments").

Some years ago we set out to write a detailed book about the basic physics of musical instruments. There have been many admirable books published about the history of the development of musical instruments, about their construction as a master craft, and about their employment in musical perfor­ mance; several excellent books have treated the acoustics of musical instru­ ments in a semiquantitative way; but none to our knowledge had then at­ tempted to assemble the hard acoustic information available in the research literature and to make it available to a wider readership. Our book The Physics of Musical Instruments, published by Springer-Verlag in 1991 and subsequently reprinted several times with only minor corrections, was the outcome of our labor. Because it was our aim to make our discussion of musical instruments as complete and rigorous as possible, our book began with a careful introduction to vibrating and radiating systems important in that field. We treated simple linear oscillators, both in isolation and coupled together, and extended that to a discussion of some aspects of driven and autonomous nonlinear oscilla­ tors. Because musical instruments are necessarily extended structures, we then went on to discuss the vibrations of strings, bars, membranes, plates, and shells, paying particular attention to the mode structures and characteristic frequencies, for it is these that are musically important.

While the history of musical instruments is nearly as old as civilization itself, the science of acoustics is quite recent. By understanding the physical basis of how instruments are used to make music, one hopes ultimately to be able to give physical criteria to distinguish a fine instrument from a mediocre one. At that point science may be able to come to the aid of art in improving the design and performance of musical instruments. As yet, many of the subtleties in musical sounds of which instrument makers and musicians are aware and remain beyond the reach of modern acoustic measurements. Indeed, for many musical instruments it is only within the past few years that musical acoustics has achieved even a reasonable understanding of the basic mechanisms determining the tone quality, and in some cases even major features of the sounding mechanism have only recently been unravelled. This book describes the results of such acoustical investigations-intellectual and practical exercises of great fascination.Addressed to readers with a reasonable grasp of physics who are not put off by a little mathematics, this book discusses most of the traditional instruments currently in use in Western music. This second edition has been thoroughly revised to take into account the insights arising from recent research, and to generalize or clarify the presentation in many places. The book should continue to serve as a guide for all who have an interest in music and how it is produces as well as serving as a comprehensive reference for those undertaking research in the field.

The first edition of this book presented the principles of vibration and sound with only a little discussion of applications of these principles. During the past eight years, our own experience, as well as that of other teachers who used it as a textbook, has indicated that students would benefit from more discussion of applications. In this edition we have revised some of the mate­ rial in the first nine chapters, but more importantly we have added four new chapters dealing with applications, including microphones, loudspeakers, and other transducers; acoustics of concert halls and studios; sound and noise outdoors; and underwater sound. Of course we could have selected many additional applications of vibration and sound, but that would have led to a book with too much material for the average acoustics course in physics and engineering departments. We think there is now ample material in the book so that instructors may select the applications of particular in­ terest and omit the others without loss of continuity. We have continued to stress concepts over detailed theory, as seems most appropriate for an in­ troductory course. We appreciate the comments we have received from users, students, and teachers alike, and we continue to welcome feedback. September 2003 Thomas D. Rossing Neville H. Fletcher Preface to the First Edition Some years ago we set out to write a detailed book about the basic physics of musical instruments.