Acoustics and Audiology
Code
5290
Academic unit
Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia
Department
Departamento de Ciências dos Materiais
Credits
6.0
Teacher in charge
Carlos Jorge Mariano Miranda Dias
Weekly hours
4
Total hours
80
Teaching language
Português
Objectives
1. Introduce students to the phenomenology associated to acoustics quantities
2. Acoustic signal analysis regarding its intensity, spectral content and temporal behaviour.
3. Noise characterization of acoustic environments.
4. Establishment and solution of the equation of physical acoustics with an emphasis on the notion of acosutic impedance.
5. Room acoustics and its conditioning through quantification of the reverberation time together with its frequency and spatial properties.
Prerequisites
There are no disciplines required prior to enrollment in this course. However it is assumed that student have general knowledge of mathematics and physics.
Subject matter
Acoustics: waves and acoustic signals. Sound velocity. Periodic signals. Time and frequency domains. First and second order systems. Kinetic and Potential energies in the acoustic domain. The concept of impedance. Sound measurement and analysis. Signal statistics. Logarithmic scales. Spectral analysis. Frequency weighting.
Physiology of hearing. Psychophysical characteristics of hearing. Energetic considerations. The importance of the middle ear. Hearing limits. Iso-volume lines of hearing sensitivity. Uses and limitations of amplification of sound for corrective hearing. Basic principles and design of audiological instrumentation. Description of the audiometer and tympanometer. Biophysics of the hearing function. Anatomical details of the peripheral auditory system. Properties of the auditory nerve. Pathologies of the hearing function.
Electroacoustics: electronic and instrumentation. Transducers, microphones and speakers. Calibration of audiological instrumentation. Sound acquisition and processing. The nature of audiological signals e their quantitative description. Filtering. Identification and noise description. Fourier analysis and its practical implementation.
Bibliography
Slides used in the course available through the MOODLE system
Fundamentals of Acoustics - L. E. Kinsler, A. R. Frey, A. B. Coppens and J. V. Sanders, John Wiley 2nd ed. 1982
Basic Acoustics - D. E. Hall, John Wiley 1987
Principles of Vibration and Sound - T. D. Rossing and N. H. Fletcher, Springer-Verlag 1995
Engineering Noise Control - D. A. Bies and C. H. Hansen, Chapman & Hall 1988
Noise Control - Bruel and Kjaer 1982
Acústica de Edificios - P. Martins da Silva, LNEC - ICT Informação Técnica, Edificios ITE 8, reimpressão1995
Teaching method
Theoretical classes with datashow. Problem solving classes with student participation.
Practicals include theory preparation, experimental procedure and production of a small report.
Availability of the study material in the internet.
Evaluation method
ADMISSION TO THE EXAM: Three reports of the labs sessions are produced which, after discussion of the work, are given a overall mark of NP. To be admitted to examination students must have a positive information in this component.
PASS: to be exempted of examination the student can attend two tests whose average must be equal or greater than 10 and none of them be less than 8.
The final classification is,
N=0.5NP+0.5NE
where NE is the average of the tests or the marks of the exam.