ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the reader to the basic elements of sound, the way it propagates and related topics. This will help us understand both the nature of sound and its behavior in a variety of acoustic contexts and allow us to understand both the operation of musical instruments and the interaction of sound with people hearing. The sound intensity represents the flow of energy through a unit area. The chapter discusses more complicated waveforms can always be described in terms of the simpler sine waves. Sine waves have three parameters: their amplitude, their rate of rotation or frequency and their starting position or phase. Fourier theory states that any waveform can be built up by using an appropriate set of sine waves of different frequencies, amplitudes and phases. The velocity of transverse vibrations is affected by factors other than just the material properties.
