Topics and Notes Summary (last update 4/23/2010):

DATE COMMENT

Apr. 22 (Thurs)

Audio synthesis and audio effects.

 

Apr. 20 (Tues)

No class this day (instructor out of town)

 

Apr. 15 (Thurs)

In class Quiz on readings and lecture material.

Electrical power and wiring (cont.)

 

Apr. 13 (Tues)

Electrical power and wiring (handout).

 

Apr. 8 (Thurs)

Transducers:  microphones and loudspeakers (cont.)

 

Apr. 6 (Tues)

Transducers:  microphones and loudspeakers (cont.)

 

Apr. 1 (Thurs)

Transducers:  microphones and loudspeakers (handout).

 

Mar. 30 (Tues)

Musical acoustics (cont.), with in-class demos.

 

Mar. 25 (Thurs)

Musical acoustics (cont.), with in-class demos.

 

Mar. 23 (Tues)

Return and discuss midterm exams.  Start discussion of musical acoustics (handout).

 

Mar. 15-19

Spring Break week (no MSU classes)

 

Mar. 11 (Thurs)

MID TERM EXAM in class.

 

Mar. 9 (Tues)

MEET in Reynolds Hall this day:  measure auditorium acoustics.

Homework on estimating reverb time is due.

 

Mar. 4 (Thurs)

Early lateral reflections and envelopment in performance spaces.

 

Mar. 2 (Tues)

Reverberation (cont.)

The Sabine equation and estimating reverberation.

NOTE:

  the midterm exam will be given in class on Thursday 11 March 2010.  The exam will be closed book.  Format will be similar to the quizzes (e.g., primarily multiple choice problems), with a few short answer questions. 

Assignment:  homework problem on estimating reverb time using the Sabine equation (due at the start of class on Tuesday 9 March.

Feb. 25 (Thurs)

In class Quiz

on readings and lecture material.

Reverberation and absorption.

Feb. 23 (Tues)

Begin material on room acoustics:  transmission and reverberation.

Sound Transmission Class (STC) handout.

Reading assignment:  chapters 20-21.

Feb. 18 (Thurs)

In class Quiz

on readings and lecture material.

Octave stretching and tuning judgments.

Feb. 16 (Tues)

Human hearing system:  strengths and weaknesses of our hearing ability.

Feb. 11 (Thurs)

Human hearing system:  physiology and psychology.

Reading assignment: chapters 13-14. 

Feb. 9 (Tues)

Complete discussion of wave phenomena:  diffraction and standing waves.

Harmonics and spectral behavior.

Reading assignment: chapter 10 from the textbook, then skim ahead to chapter 13. 

Feb. 4 (Thurs)

In class Quiz on Chapter 6 and lecture material.

Continue discussion of wave phenomena:  reflection, refraction, diffraction, and focusing.

Feb. 2 (Tues)

Relationships among sound speed, frequency, and wavelength.  Doppler effect. Wave reflection.

Reading assignment:  start chapters 8 and 9 from the textbook (we are skipping chapter 7). 

Jan. 28 (Thurs)

In class Quiz on Chapter 4 and lecture material.

Vibration calculations.  Start wave propagation discussion.

Speed of sound measurement in class.

Jan. 26 (Tues)

Vibration in simple mass-spring systems: sinusoidal oscillation, frequency, period, cycle, amplitude, and the effects of damping.

NOTE:  if you purchased the textbook NEW this semester, there may be printing errors.  The publisher has provided corrected pages from the book that you can print and replace (.pdf).

Reading assignment:  start chapter 6 from the textbook (we are skipping chapter 5 for now). 

Jan. 21 (Thurs)

In class Quiz on Chapter 3 and lecture material.

Power and energy discussion.

Vibration in simple mass-spring systems and basic mass-spring-damper systems (Chapter 4)

Reading assignment:  Read chapter 4 from the Strong textbook.

Jan. 19 (Tues)

Basic physical quantities and laws.  Measurement units for distance, time, mass, frequency, force, energy, power, etc.

Vibration in simple mass-spring systems and basic mass-spring-damper systems.

Jan. 14 (Thurs)

First class meeting at 1:10PM in Howard Hall Room 117.

Course introduction and some listening experiments.

Reading assignment:  Read chapter 3 from the Strong textbook .

For those of you who have not yet acquired the book, here is a temporary pdf for chapters 3 and 4.