Principles of Vibration and Sound

Thimas D. Rossing has taught musical acoustics for nearly 50 years, and has been active in research in this area for at least 30 years. In 1992 he was awarded the Silver Medal in Musical Acoustics by the Acoustical Society of America and his biography is included in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

The first edition of this book presented the principles of vibration and sound with only a little discussion of applications of these principles. During the past eight years, our own experience, as well as that of other teachers who used it as a textbook, has indicated that students would benefit from more discussion of applications. In this edition we have revised some of the mate rial in the first nine chapters, but more importantly we have added four new chapters dealing with applications, including microphones, loudspeakers, and other transducers; acoustics of concert halls and studios; sound and noise outdoors; and underwater sound. Of course we could have selected many additional applications of vibration and sound, but that would have led to a book with too much material for the average acoustics course in physics and engineering departments. We think there is now ample material in the book so that instructors may select the applications of particular in terest and omit the others without loss of continuity. We have continued to stress concepts over detailed theory, as seems most appropriate for an in troductory course. We appreciate the comments we have received from users, students, and teachers alike, and we continue to welcome feedback. September 2003 Thomas D. Rossing Neville H. Fletcher Preface to the First Edition Some years ago we set out to write a detailed book about the basic physics of musical instruments.

Suitable as a text for advanced undergraduates, the book provides the foundations needed to understand the acoustics of rooms and musical instruments as well as the basics for scientists and engineers interested in noise and vibration.

1 Free and Forced Vibrations of Simple Systems.- 2 Continuous Systems in One Dimension: Strings and Bars.- 3 Two-Dimensional Systems: Membranes and Plates.- 4 Coupled Vibrating Systems.- 5 Nonlinear Systems.- 6 Sound Waves in Air.- 7 Sound Radiation.- 8 Pipes and Horns.- 9 Acoustic Systems.- 10 Microphones and Other Transducers.- 11 Sound in Concert Halls and Studios.- 12 Sound and Noise Outdoors.- 13 Underwater Sound.- Selected Bibliography.- Problems.- Answers to Selected Problems.- Name Index.