Product Description

This book incorporates the developments in digital audio technology, including consumer products, into a firm foundation of the physics of sound. No knowledge of physics, mathematics, or music is required. Includes updated information on musical synthesizers. Provides recent information on the ear, including new advances in cochlear implant technology. Updates material for modern technology, particularly MP3. Features abundant examples, including discussion of demonstration experiments. Includes historical discussion of musical temperaments and instruments. Offers videotapes of musical demonstrations on topics discussed in the book, available from author. A useful reference for musicians or anyone interested in learning more about the physics of music.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #554182 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-27
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 416 pages

The publisher, Prentice-Hall Engineering/Science/Mathematics
This book incorporates the remarkable changes in digital audio technology -- including consumer products--into a firm foundation of physics of sound.

From the Back Cover
Revision of the best selling introduction to acoustion, appropriate for physics of Sound/Musical acoustics for young adults. New edition stresses modern instruments.

About the Author

Professor Richard E. Berg received his B.S. degree in music from Manchester College (Indiana), with emphasis on piano and clarinet, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physics from Michigan State University. After completing his Ph.D. thesis in the area of cyclotron design, be began work on the construction of the cyclotron at the University of Maryland. This work included design and construction of the external beam transport system, design of solid state radiation detectors, and support for research in nuclear physics using the cyclotron. In 1972 he became the director of the University of Maryland Physics Lecture-Demonstration Facility, which has since developed one of the largest and most diverse collections of physics demonstrations in the world. He has initiated courses in Physics of Music laboratory, and an honors course, Nuclear Physics and Society, involving applications of nuclear physics and radiation to contemporary society. Professor Berg has sung and played renaissance wind instruments with University of Maryland Collegium Musicum for over 20 years. He has also played harpsichord and recorder in a smaller group known as the Go for Baroque Ensemble. Professor Berg has been active in physics outreach programs, annually presenting a series of public demonstration programs called Physics is Phun, which has been attended by more than 100,000 people since 1982. Over his career he has presented more than 500 traveling demonstration programs to area school groups and more than 300 smaller programs at the University of Maryland for visiting groups. In the photograph Professor Berg is shown demonstrating the twelve-harmonic variable frequency digital Fourier synthesizer designed and constructed at the University of Maryland.

David G. Stork is Chief Scientist of Ricoh Innovations, Inc., and Consulting Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. He received his B.S. degree in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physics from the University of Maryland. Dr. Stork is an accomplished orchestral and chamber timpanist/percussionist, has performed in major concert halls throughout the United States, and performed on more than a dozen compact disks, including four world premier recordings. His principal research interests are in pattern classification, machine learning, and novel uses of the internet. He is an award-winning teacher (Ralph D. Myers Teaching Award, University of Maryland) and publishes and lectures widely on his research and scholarly topics as diverse as Renaissance painting and the relation of science fiction to science fact. His other books include Pattern Classification (2nd ed., Wiley 2000, W R. Duda and P Hart), Speechreading by Humans and Machines (Springer, 1996, W M. Hennecke), Seeing the Light (Whey, 1986, W D. Falk and D. Brill), and HAL's Legacy: 2001's Computer as Dream and Reality (MIT 1997), the latter serving as the source for his PBS television documentary "2001: HAL's Legacy." Dr. Stork sits on the editorial boards of four international journals and is a member of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), ACM (Association for Computing Machinery), OSA (Optical Society of America), INNS (International Neural Network Society), and the Sigma XI Honorary Research Society.

Customer Reviews

Class didnt reflect his own textbook.
Whats better than taking a course where the professor actually wrote the book. Well I did just that and was disappointed. The class had many visual demonstrations but the book had very few pictures which made me wonder why his teaching style did not reflect the textbook.

not helpful
Did they even have an editor for this book? I took a class with Dr.Berg and his class was interesting but the book was not helpful nor was it well organized.

Considerably out of date in some places
Acoustics is an interesting subject, at all levels, and very important of course due to the human love for music and the need for high fidelity sound reproduction. This book is written for a readership that does not have expertise in physics or mathematics beyond the high school level. The authors do an excellent job, and the book could be used in classes on music theory or a class in physics for the humanities. The audiophile reader will gain a greater appreciation of the physics behind quality sound reproduction. Heavy use is made of demonstrations to illustrate the properties of sound, and most of these are easily set up in the classroom. I have used most of these demonstrations in the classroom, and can highly recommend their use to reinforce the understanding of the physics of sound.

The book opens, appropriately, with a discussion of simple harmonic motion, with the properties of this type of motion related to sound waves. The nature of simple harmonic motion as periodic, in contrast with noise, which is nonperiodic, is pointed out very early on. To introduce the concept of resonance, in particular the concept of coupling resonance, the author use the coupled pendulum system. This demonstration is easily constructed for classroom use and very effective in illustrating coupled resonance. Lissajous figures, which arise in the study of the relationship between two waves, is discussed in some detail.

The difference between longitudinal waves, which sound waves are, and transverse waves (such as light), is illustrated in chapter 2. To reinforce the difference between sound and light, the authors use the "bell in vacuum" demonstration. A demonstration for measuring the speed of sound is also described. Ripple tanks are used to demonstrate Huygen's principle, interference, and parabolic reflectors. The origin of beats, so important in music theory, is discussed, along with a very detailed overview of the Doppler effect. Ultrasound, very important medically, is treated also. A very brief discussion of infrasonic waves is given. Infrasonic waves, which are outside the range of hearing since they are below 20 Hz, are only experienced as vibrations. They have recently been discussed in the popular press as being explanations behind "haunted" houses. The anxiety felt in some old houses is thought of as being due to infrasonic waves.

The origin of the overtone series, so very important in music theory, is discussed in chapter 3. The three laws of Mersenne, which govern the fundamental frequency of stretched wires, are also treated. The Kundt's tube demonstration is used to describe the properties of longitudinal standing waves, and the famous Chladni plates are used to demonstrate standing waves in two dimensions. All throughout the chapter the properties of standing waves are related to music and musical instruments.

Fourier analysis and synthesis, which is typically very formidable mathematically, is presented in chapter 4 in a manner that is very understandable to the targeted readership. The Fourier synthesis of triangular, square, and sawtooth waves, along with a pulse train, is discussed. After a treatment of Fourier spectrum of these waves, the authors discuss the factors contributing to tone quality.

In chapter 5, the authors turn to more practical considerations, wherein they discuss how to create electronic music. Analog synthesizers, although very antiquated by modern standards, are used to illustrate how to combine waves to obtain special sounds or effects. The authors then immediately turn to digital synthesizers and keyboards. They discuss the Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI), but the equipment they illustrate in the chapter is considerably out of date.

The anatomy and physics of the human ear and voice tract are discussed in chapter 6. The diagrams they include are useful, and they discuss the "place theory of hearing" , which is based on the correlation of sound frequency with position of response along the basilar membrane. The critical band, just noticeable difference, and the limit of frequency discrimination are all discussed in the context of this theory, with several different experiments proposed to illustrate these concepts. Most interesting is the discussion on periodicity pitch, which musicians seem to have a knack for. Also interesting is the treatment of vocal formants, which are frequency regions in which harmonics have large amplitudes. Due to the element of subjectivity in hearing and listening, the connection of the material in this chapter to "psychophysics" and "psychoacoustics" is readily apparent.

Most of the next chapter is out-dated since the authors discuss sound reproduction using LPs and tape recorders. However, the authors do discuss how this is done using compact disks, which though are themselves on their way out, due to the rise of the Internet, MP3 formats, and digital music files. Chapter 8 is timeless though, as the authors discuss the acoustics of auditoriums and rooms, detailing the most important acoustical characteristics that contribute to a pleasant musical experience, and some of the problems that arise in acoustical design. The last section of the chapter gives a fairly good overview of what is involved in setting up a home listening room.

In chapter 9, the authors take the plunge into music theory, discussing temperament and musical pitch. The history behind these concepts is detailed, emphasizing in particular that an ideal temperament is not available, its choice being dictated by the musical requirements at hand. Arithmetic descriptions of the Pythagorean, just, mean-tone, Werckmeister, and equal temperaments are given.

The last five chapters are specialized to the principles behind woodwind, brass, string, and percussion instruments, and the piano. The discussion is purely descriptive, but some of the physical principles studied in the first chapters of the book are applied here to give an understanding of the acoustical and musical properties of these instruments.