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Related Concept Videos

Sound as Pressure Waves01:17

Sound as Pressure Waves

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Sound waves, which are longitudinal waves, can be modeled as the displacement amplitude varying as a function of the spatial and temporal coordinates. As a column of the medium is displaced, its successive columns are also displaced. As the successive displacements differ relatively, a pressure difference with the surrounding pressure is created. The gauge pressure varies across the medium.
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Perception of Sound Waves01:01

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The human ear is not equally sensitive to all frequencies in the audible range. It may perceive sound waves with the same pressure but different frequencies as having different loudness. Moreover, the perception of sound waves depends on the health of an individual's ears, which decays with age. The health of one's ears may also be affected by regular exposure to loud noises.
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Sound Waves: Resonance01:14

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Resonance is produced depending on the boundary conditions imposed on a wave. Resonance can be produced in a string under tension with symmetrical boundary conditions (i.e., has a node at each end). A node is defined as a fixed point where the string does not move. The symmetrical boundary conditions result in some frequencies resonating and producing standing waves, while other frequencies interfere destructively. Sound waves can resonate in a hollow tube, and the frequencies of the sound...
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Sound Waves01:01

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Sound waves can be thought of as fluctuations in the pressure of a medium through which they propagate. Since the pressure also makes the medium's particles vibrate along its direction of motion, the waves can be modeled as the displacement of the medium's particles from their mean position.
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Sound Waves: Interference00:53

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Sound waves can be modeled either as longitudinal waves, wherein the molecules of the medium oscillate around an equilibrium position, or as pressure waves. When two identical waves from the same source superimpose on each other, the combination of two crests or two troughs results in amplitude reinforcement known as constructive interference. If two identical waves, that are initially in phase, become out of phase because of different path lengths, the combination of crests with troughs...
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Sound Intensity00:58

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The loudness of a sound source is related to how energetically the source is vibrating, consequently making the molecules of the propagation medium vibrate. To measure the loudness of a source, the physical quantity of interest is the intensity. This is defined as the energy emitted per unit of time per unit of area perpendicular to the sound wave's propagation direction. Since the total energy is greater if the source vibrates for a longer duration and over a larger area, dividing the...
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Investigating the Effect of Visual Imagery and Learning Shape-Audio Regularities on Bouba and Kiki
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Sound-Action Symbolism.

Lari Vainio1,2, Martti Vainio1

  • 1Phonetics and Speech Synthesis Research Group, Department of Digital Humanities, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.

Frontiers in Psychology
|October 1, 2021
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Speech sounds are linked to physical actions, suggesting sound symbolism is grounded in sensorimotor experiences. This embodied mechanism may explain how we vividly express meaning through sound, prosody, and gestures.

Keywords:
actiongesturesgraspingprosodysound symbolismspeech

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Science
  • Linguistics
  • Neuroscience

Background:

  • Emerging evidence links specific speech sounds to distinct physical actions.
  • Vowels like close-front vowels are associated with precision grips, and front vowels with forward limb movements.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review sound-action effects and propose a framework for sound symbolism grounded in sensorimotor representations.
  • To explore the role of embodied mechanisms in sound symbolism, prosody, and gestures.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of studies on sound symbolism and action representations.
  • Analysis of existing evidence for sensorimotor grounding in speech perception and production.

Main Results:

  • Sound-action effects suggest a category of sound symbolism based on grounding meaning in articulatory and manual actions.
  • Sound-magnitude symbolism may also be partially explained by sensorimotor grounding.
  • Suprasegmental speech elements' meanings are often grounded in body actions.

Conclusions:

  • Sound symbolism, prosody, and body gestures may share common embodied origins.
  • These embodied mechanisms facilitate iconic and vivid meaning expression.
  • Understanding sensorimotor grounding offers insights into the evolution and function of language.