Download Digital Audio Fundamentals

Digital Audio Fundamentals
Digital audio is a numeric representation of sound; it is sound stored as numbers. In order to understand what the
numbers mean, you need to start with the basic principles of acoustics, the science of sound.
Basic Acoustics
Sound is produced when molecules in the air are disturbed by some type of motion produced by a vibrating object. This
object, which might be a guitar string, human vocal cord, or a garbage can, is set into motion because energy is applied to
it. The guitar string is struck by a pick or finger, while the garbage can is hit perhaps by a hammer, but the basic result is
the same: they both begin to vibrate. The rate and amount of vibration is critical to our perception of the sound. If it is not
fast enough or strong enough, we won't hear it. But if the vibration occurs at least twenty times a second and the
molecules in the air are moved enough, then we will hear sound.
Example-A Guitar String
To understand the process better, let's take a closer look at a guitar string.
When a finger picks a guitar string, the entire string starts to move back and forth at a certain rate. This rate is called the
frequency of the vibration. Because a single back and forth motion is called a cycle, we use a measure of frequency
called cycles per second, or cps. This measure is also known as Hertz, abbreviated Hz. Often the frequency of vibration
of an object is very fast, so we can also express the frequency in thousands of cycles per second, or kilohertz
(abbreviated kHz).
The actual distance the string moves is called its displacement. This is proportional to how hard the string is plucked. A
greater displacement results in a louder sound.
The displacement of the string changes as the string vibrates, as shown here:
The segment marked "A"represents the string as it is pulled back by the pick; "B" shows it moving back towards its
resting point, "C" represents the string moving through the resting point and onward to its outer limit; then "D" has it
moving back towards the point of rest. This pattern repeats continuously until the friction of the molecules in the air
gradually slows the string to a stop. As the string vibrates, it causes the molecules of air around it to vibrate as well. The
vibrations are passed along through the air as sound waves. When the vibrations enter your ear, they make your eardrum
vibrate, and you hear a sound. Likewise, if the vibrating air hits a microphone, it causes the microphone to vibrate and
send out electrical signals.
In order for us humans to hear the sound, the frequency of the vibration must be at least 20 Hz. The highest frequency
sound we can hear is theoretically 20 kHz, but, in reality, it's probably closer to 15 or 17 kHz. Other animals, and
microphones, have different hearing ranges.
If the simple back-and-forth motion of the string was the only phenomenon involved in creating a sound, then all stringed
instruments would probably sound much the same. We know this is not true, of course; the laws of physics are not quite
so simple. In fact, the string Vibrates not only at its entire length, but at one-half its length, one.third, one-fourth,
one-fifth, and so on. These additional vibrations overtones) occur at a rate faster than the rate of the original vibration the
fundamental frequency), but are usually weaker in strength. Our ear doesn't hear each frequency of vibration
individually, however. If it if did, we would hear a multinote chord every time a single string were played. Rather, all
these vibrations are added together to form a complex or composite sound that our ear perceives as a single tone.
This composite waveform still doesn't account for the uniqueness of the sound of different instruments. For example,
stringed instruments usually have a resonator. In the case of the guitar, the resonator is the big block of hollow wood to
which the string is attached (the guitar body). This has a major impact on the sound we perceive when a guitar is played
because it enhances or amplifies some of the vibrations produced by the string and diminishes or attenuates others. The
ultimate effect of all the vibrations occurring simultaneously, being altered by the resonator, adds up to the sound we
know as guitar,
Waveforms
A sound wave can be represented in many different ways: as a mathematical formula, as a series of numbers, or
graphically as a waveform. A waveform displays the size, or amplitude, of the vibration as a function of time. For
example, the waveform of the sound of the plucked guitar string might look like this:
The waveform of a trumpet blast might look like this:
And the waveform of a spoken word might look like this:
The three waveforms shown above are quite different from one another in appearance and sound. Each has its own
characteristic shape, or envelope, and each has its own complex combination of frequency components, which can change
across the duration of the sound.
The center line of a waveform is the zero line; it corresponds to the rest position (displacement of 0) of the original
vibrating object. (A waveform for perfect silence would be a horizontal line at zero.) Back and forth motions of the
vibrating object translate to upward (positive) and downward (negative) excursions of waveform amplitude. For example,
a close-up of a portion of the guitar waveform might look like this:
The waveform crosses the zero line twice during each complete vibration. These zero-crossings are important in digital
audio processing; they are good places to cut waveforms apart and splice them together. If waveforms are cut or spliced
at other locations, clicks and pops can occur. The maximum amplitude of the waveform in each vibration is also
important: it determines the strength of the vibration, and thus the loudness of the sound.