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Tactile Devices Tactile devices: A boon for the hearing impaired The image shows the phone that would convert the deaf user’s typed words into spoken words. When the person on the other end speaks, the tactile devices converts their words into text, ensuring the privacy without any third party intervention, as observed generally in most of the cases. Such types of devices which can convert text to sound allows freedom for these users. Communication plays a major role in the life of human beings, therefore lets learn more about the sound waves which is the basis of human communication.

Learning objectives

After completing the topic, the student will be able to:

  • Discuss and explore the nature of sound waves, existing in our daily life.
  • Expand the concept of reflection, refraction of sound waves and investigate about the phenomenon of an echo with its relevant applications in sonar and radar and find the depth of an ocean.
  • Examine and explore the natural frequency, higher order harmonics of the object that produces the sound, resonance and its applications in daily life scenarios.
  • Discover and illustrate the concept of diffraction of sound waves and its applications in daily life situations.
  • Explain the phenomenon of Doppler effect and illustrate its importance by applying it to understand the working of ultrasound detection techniques in medical diagnosis etc.
  • Differentiate between the sounds of the musical Instruments based on the quality of the sound produced by them.
  • Discover how musical instruments produce sounds by examining the working of different instruments.
  • Analyze and investigate Fourier analysis of different waves of different frequencies and their applications.
Vibrations and sound Sound waves and water waves All waves can be thought of as a disturbance that transfers energy. Water waves and sound waves are formed through the vibration of particles. Water waves form because water molecules are disturbed, and sound waves are formed by the disturbance of air particles.
Introduction

The very basis of communication is sound. The chirping of birds, music, car horn etc are few examples of sound.

Have you ever touched a speaker when a song or movie is played? You feel certain vibrations. These vibrations are responsible for the sounds we hear. You can feel vibrations in your throat when you hum a music. So sounds are produced when an object vibrates.

Sound is the propagation of vibrations through a material medium - a solid, liquid or gas. If there is no medium to vibrate, then no sound is possible. Sound waves travel through air in much the same way as water waves travel through water. In fact, since water waves are easy to see and understand, they are often used as an analogy to illustrate how sound waves behave.

When a stone is dropped on the surface of water (say a lake or pond), ripples are created which travel like waves. The wave is not a bulk movement of water as such, but rather, it is a disturbance travelling on the surface of the lake. Likewise, sound is a form of energy that travels in the form of vibrations(disturbance) through air or any other medium.