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					The physics of sound and hearing                                                         Andrew McGovern

The Physics of Sound and Hearing
Andrew McGovern

The human ear is a truly remarkable piece of biological engineering. It is capable
of detecting and processing a huge variety of sounds from the rustling of leaves in
a deserted forest to the electronica pouring from club speakers at the weekend.
These two very different sounds not only demonstrate the ears ability to detect
sounds over a huge range of amplitudes (the club speakers being almost 100,000
times louder than the leaves) but also it is able to detect and separate a huge
range of sound frequencies which allows the brain to identify each sound.

How this remarkable device achieves it’s versatility is the subject of this essay and in particular how
this can be understood using mathematics and physics. Firstly the fundamental properties of sound
waves will be discussed. Then the function of the ear in harnessing these properties and converting
them in to electrical impulses for interpretation by the brain will be looked at in sections. These
sections are; the resonance of sound by the outer ear, the transfer of sound by impedance matching
by the middle ear and the separation of sound into frequency components by the inner ear.

The Properties of Sound
Sound is a physical wave, or motion of particles, propagating in a medium. Commonly this medium
is the mixture of gasses around us that we call air. However sound can also travel through liquids
such as water or solids such as iron. The properties of sound in these materials depend considerably
on the properties of the material its self. For example the speed of sound in a material is proportional
the square root of the coefficient of stiffness of a material and inversely proportional to the square
root of the density of the material (Tipler, 1998). This compactly summarised by the formula:

                                              c                                                   (1)

where c is the speed of sound, C the coefficient of stiffness and ρ the density of the material. This
formula demonstrates that if we increase the stiffness of the material by an amount a the speed of
sound will increase by a factor of √a and if we increase the density of the material by an amount b
the speed of sound will decrease by a factor of √b. From this equation we can calculate that the
speeds of sound in air, water and iron are 343m/s, 1,484m/s and 5,120m/s respectively. These
differing properties of sound in different materials are important to the understanding of behaviour
of sound in the fluid of the inner ear and the air of the outer ear.

                                                Page 1
 The physics of sound and hearing                                                                      Andrew McGovern

 One other point that it is worth mentioning when discussing the nature of sound waves is that they
 are longitudinal waves. That is, they are made up by a series of compressions and rarefactions of the
 molecules                     or                   atoms                    of                    the
 material through which they are travelling (Tipler, 1998). This is demonstrated in figure 1. These
 compressions and rarefactions propagate through the medium at the speed of sound. In fact, it is the

Figure 1. The propagation of sound though air by compression and rarefaction of air molecules. Two complete
wave cycles are shown (or two wavelengths).

 speed                                 of                            these                             compressions

                                                                                        Figure 2. A graphical
                                                                                        representation of a sound
                                                                                        wave. The wave shown here
                                                                                        has          the        form
                                                                                         A sin(2x /  ) , where A is
                                                                                        the amplitude of the wave
                                                                                        (how loud is sounds), x is
                                                                                        distance in meters, and λ is
                                                                                        wavelength in meters.

 and rarefactions that actually defines the speed of sound. If the density of compressions and
 rarefractions as a function of distance through the sound wave are plotted the result is a sine wave.
 This means that it is possible to represent a sound wave as mathematically using the sine function.
 This principle is demonstrated in Figure 2.

 Figure 2. demonstrates a sound comprised of just one single note, in fact the note shown is middle
 C, which has a wavelength of 1.32 meters. To represent more complex sounds, such as a piano
 chord we can simply add the sine waves of each note together. Here is the formula for a C major

                     2x                             2x                              2x
  f ( x)  A1 sin(        2 (262)  1 )  A2 sin(      2 (196)   2 )  A3 sin(      2 (165)   3 )   (2)
                     132                             176                              209

 It is composed of three sine waves; one representing middle C with a wavelength and frequency of
 132m and 262Hz respectively, and the other two representing the notes E and G. This adding
 together of the different sine waves to create a more complex sound is termed the principal of
 supposition. It can even be used to build up a mathematical formula for very complicated sounds
 like the rustling of leaves.

                                                          Page 2
The physics of sound and hearing                                                                     Andrew McGovern

Resonance in the Outer Ear
After sound has been collected by
the external ear (or pinna) it
passes on into the ear canal. The
ear canal and the rest of the
components of the ear are shown
in figure 3. You would be
forgiven for thinking that to sole
function of this canal is to allow
the transfer of sound from the
outside world, through the skull,
to the ear drum. But in fact the
ear canal does much more than
this: It is an amplifier with it’s
dimensions very carefully tuned
to amplify the frequencies used
most in human speech. This
                                            Figure 3. A schematic of the human ear. Figure excerpted from
amplification works though a                New York State Department of Health (2000).
process called resonance.

Resonance        is     fundamental
property of all types of wave. It is how the strings of musical instruments produce notes. Resonance
is also utilised with light waves in lasers to carefully tune the light to a chosen frequency or colour.
Resonance occurs where a travelling (New York State Department of Health, 2000) or confined in a small region. If the
                                           wave becomes trapped
wave has just the right frequency then over successive passages up and down the confined space it
will add to it’s self (this is the principal of supposition again). If the wavelength of a wave confined
to a string is exactly the same length as the string then it will have a node (a point of no
displacement) at both ends of the string (which are fixed) and two antinodes (points of maximum
displacement) either side of the middle of the string. This is shown in figure 4. Waves which do not
have quite the correct wavelength to fit on the string will bounce up and down which dissipates the
energy of these waves and will quickly dampen them down to zero (Tipler, 1998).

On a string with two fixed ends it is also possible to fit a wave which has a wavelength which is

  Figure 4. A wave confined to a string. The wavelength of the wave is the same as the length of the string.
  Therefore the wave is stable and stationary on the string. It has three nodes (points at which the string
  does not appear to move), one at either end and one in the middle. There are two antinodes (points of
  maximum movement on the string) both either side of the middle. This mode of vibration is termed the
  second harmonic.

twice as long as the string. Again there is one node at each end of the string but this time there is
only one antinode in the centre. This is the least energetic wave that will fit on a string and is termed
it’s natural frequency. When the string of a guitar is plucked it will resonate at this natural frequency
and the wavelength of the wave on the string will be twice that of the string itself. This is shown in
figure 5.

                                                      Page 3
The physics of sound and hearing                                                         Andrew McGovern

 Figure 5. The first harmonic of a string with two fixed ends. The wavelength of the trapped
 wave is twice the length of the string.

The ear canal operates in the same way except it on has only one fixed end at the ear drum. The
other end of the ear canal is open. This means that for resonance to occur an antinode is required at
the open end (the external auditory meatus). The smallest portion of a wave that will fit into this
situation is one quarter. So the total wavelength of this wave must be four times longer than the
length of the ear canal (Tipler, 1998). This is shown in figure 6.

  Figure 6. The natural frequency of an open ended tube such as the ear canal. One node is
  present at the ear drum and one antinode at the external auditory meatus.

The wavelength (λ) of any wave is related to it’s frequency (f) and speed (v) by the equation below:

                                               f                                                  (3)
This means that if we know any two of these parameters we can find the other. In the case of the
resonant wave in the ear canal we know the wavelength (four times greater than the length of the ear
canal) and speed of sound in air so we can find the resonant frequency of the ear canal. Plugging the
values of 26mm for the average length of the ear canal and 343m/s for the speed of sound in air into
this equation reveals that the resonant frequency of the ear canal is around 3000Hz. Which, by no
coincidence is the peak of the important frequencies produced in human speech. This means that the
ear canal will resonate and amplify this range of sounds (Mullin et al., 2003).

The ear canal also has a low resistance to sound which prevents it from damping down frequencies
which do not resonate inside it. For these frequencies it does simply act as a conduit to the ear drum.

Impedance matching in the middle ear
The purpose of the middle ear is to transfer sound waves from the air that fills the outer air the fluid
that fills the inner ear. When a wave encounters a boundary between two different mediums some of
the wave is reflected and some passes though the boundary into the second medium. The fraction of

                                                Page 4
The physics of sound and hearing                                                          Andrew McGovern

a waves power that will pass through a boundary is called the transmission coefficient. If the
transmission coefficient for a boundary is ½ then half of the waves power will pass though that
boundary, if it is ¼ then a quarter will pass though. The transmission coefficient (T) can be
calculated using the formula:

                                                     4Z 1 Z 2
                                             T                                                 (4)
                                                  (Z 1  Z 2 ) 2

Where Z1 and Z2 are the impedances to wave propagation in the first and second medium (in other
words the natural resistance of the two substances to the movement of the wave in those substances).
The precise details of the formula are unimportant here but using the value of sound impedance in
air as Z1 and sound impedance in ear fluid as Z2 the value of T is found to be 0.001. In other words,
when sound passes from air to middle ear fluid it’s power (and hence how loud it sounds) becomes
1000 times smaller. This is a matter of common experience if you are a swimmer, put your head
under the water whilst someone is speaking to you and you will have great difficulty in hearing what
they are say due to the attenuation of sound at the air-water interface (Mullin et al., 2003).

The middle ear overcomes this attenuation of sound by two mechanisms. Firstly the bones of the ear
(ossicles) act as a compound lever. The force applied by a lever is multiplied by the distance from
                                                                          Figure 7. A schematic of
                                                                          the ossicles. The ligaments
                                                                          shown in blue act as
                                                                          fulcrums for the lever
                                                                          action of the ossicles. The
                                                                          relative sizes of the
                                                                          tympanic membrane and
                                                                          the oval window can also
                                                                          be seen. Figure adapted
                                                                          from Dewey (2007).

                                                                          (Dewey, 2007)

the pivoting point of the lever. Again this is evident from daily experience. Push on the outer edge
of a door, far away from the pivoting point of the hinges and it is much easier to close than pushing
on a point right next to the hinges. Figure 7 shows a simplified diagram of the ossicle lever
arrangement. The action of this lever is actually controlled by the smallest skeletal muscle in the
human body, the stapedius muscle, which protects the inner ear against loud sounds by minimising
this lever action (Mullin et al., 2003).

The other method by which the ear increases sound intensity is by transfer of pressure from the large
surface area of the ear drum (tympanic membrane) to the small area of the oval window. The oval
window is around 19 times smaller than the tympanic membrane resulting in an amplification of
sound by 19 times.

                                               Page 5
The physics of sound and hearing                                                                        Andrew McGovern

These two mechanisms combine to amplify the sound intensity from the outer ear to the inner ear by
625 times partially overcoming the attenuation of 1000 times which occurs in the transfer from air to
fluid (Mullin et al., 2003).

Frequency separation in the inner ear
The workings of the inner ear involve the most complex physics by far. The German physician and
physicist Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz was one of the first thinkers to turn his mind
to trying to understand the workings of the inner ear, in the mid 19th century. He postulated that the
ear was able to detect individual sound frequencies by having a repertoire of different hair cells
which each vibrated in response to a particular sound frequency. This is like a harp working in
reverse with each of the strings being used to detect sound of a particular frequency rather than
make them. Subsequent analysis of the human ear demonstrated that there were too few hair cells
for this to be the case and that ear must have a more complex and economical method of
distinguishing different frequencies (Gray, 1900).

Since Helmholtz many other scientist have applied a number of complicated mathematical
techniques to the problem. One of the most successful of these is the travelling wave theory. Here
sound waves travel from the oval window round the coclear in the scala vestibule to the helicotrema
it then passes back round the coclear in the scala tympani. The pressure difference between the wave
in the scala vestibule and scala tympani causes distortion of the basilar membrane which lies in
between the two fluid filled spaces (see figure 8). The basilar membrane holds the hair cells which
are stimulated by the displacement of this membrane. The displacement pattern that is created on the

Figure 8. A diagrammatic representation of the cochlear. The helicotrema is the apex of the cochlear. Here
the scala vestibule and scala tympani are continuous.

basilar membrane is specific for each sound frequency which can be interpreted by the brain (Duke
et al., 2003).

The mathematics which describe this theory are advanced but culminate in this relatively compact
equation for the displacement of the basilar membrane (h(x)):
(Duke et al., 2003)

                                                                                                   
                                                                          1                        
                  h( x ) 
                                         1                      i x  2  2
                                                            exp  
                                                                                                dx' 
                                                                0  l 
                                                                           
                                                                                            1       
                              e                                          0 e d   
                                    x                  4                           x'       2
                              0         d
                                                                                                 
                                                                                               

                                                                      Page 6
The physics of sound and hearing                                                                                  Andrew McGovern

where x is the distance along the basilar membrane from the oval window, ρ is the fluid mass
density, l is the height of the scala channels ω is the forcing frequency of the sound wave and ω0, d
and α are constants. This can be solved to give graphs of the patterns that particular sound waves
make on the basilar membrane (Duke et al., 2003). Three of these are shown in figure 9.

                                                                                          Figure 9. Basilar membrane
                                                                                          displacement patterns formed by
                                                                                          three different frequencies f =
                                                                                          370Hz, 1.3kHz and 4.6kHz. These
                                                                                          are the mathematical solutions to
                                                                                          equation 5. These patterns form
                                                                                          characteristic         frequency
                                                                                          signatures     which   can     be
                                                                                          interpreted by the brain. Figure
                                                                                          reproduced from Duke et al.

                                                                                          (Duke et al., 2003)

The ear is a truly remarkable piece of biological machinery which utilises a number of physical
principles to amplify transmit and differentiate between different sounds. These principles are
resonance, impedance matching and frequency separation. An understanding of these mechanisms
has enabled the construction of cochlear implants and other aids to hearing in people with hearing

Word count: 2236

DEWEY, R. (2007) Structures of the Ear [online]. Available               NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH (2000)
  from:                                    Ear Infections in Children [online]. New York, New York
  intropsych/ch04_senses/structures_of_the_ear.html                        State    Department      of    Health.  Available   from:
  [Accessed: 07 Feb 10].                                         
                                                                           nysdoh/antibiotic/4815.htm [Accessed: 07 Feb 2010].
  traveling wave in the cochlea. Physical review letters, 90.            TIPLER, P. A. (1998) Physics for Scientists and Engineers,
                                                                           Vol. 1: Mechanics, Oscillations and Waves and
GRAY, A. A. (1900) A Modification of the Helmholtz Theory                  Thermodynamics, London, W. H. Freeman.
  of Hearing. J Anat Physiol., 34, 324-50.
 VELLEMAN, S. L. (2003) Fundamentals of sound with
 applications to speech and hearing, Boston, Allyn & Bacon.

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