Description
Book SynopsisFocuses on the physics of sound for the nonspecialist to empower readers with a hands-on, ears-open approach that includes production, analysis, and perception of sound. This book helps you discover how musical instruments really work, how pitch is perceived, and how sound can be amplified with no external power source.
Trade Review"Why You Hear What You Hear ... has much to interest physicists and physics students... This book contains a lot of physical insight, and I think it will be the rare acoustician who does not enjoy reading it. I particularly liked the use of color coding to introduce (with a minimum of math) a graphical algorithm to represent autocorrelation. Also interesting are the author's diversions into history, including a story in which John William Strutt (Lord Rayleigh) and William Henry Bragg seem to have been mistaken about an echo transposed in pitch... Acousticians will enjoy its interesting perspectives, and physicists and engineers outside of acoustics will find it an attractive introduction to some important parts of the discipline."--Joe Wolfe, Physics Today "This book contains a lot of physical insight, and I think it will be the rare acoustician who does not enjoy reading it... Acousticians will enjoy its interesting perspectives, and physicists and engineers outside of acoustics will find it an attractive introduction to some important parts of the discipline."--Joe Wolfe, Acoustics Australia "This book by a distinguished professor of chemistry and physics at Harvard is a joy to read... I highly recommend this as a book to be read, preferably with the book's website on a computer nearby for easy and frequent reference."--Thomas D. Rossing, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America "This book is highly instructive for people with an interest in the wave aspects of sound, for anyone interested in how musical instruments fundamentally work and why they sound how they sound, and for those interested in the human perception of sound. It is richly illustrated in full color, printed on high-quality paper and at an excellent standard of bookmaking. It deserves a clear recommendation for a wide readership."--Manuel Vogel, Contemporary Physics
