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A Brief History of Acoustics

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Springer Handbook of Acoustics

Part of the book series: Springer Handbooks ((SHB))

Abstract

Although there are certainly some good historical treatments of acoustics in the literature, it still seems appropriate to begin a handbook of acoustics with a brief history of the subject. We begin by mentioning some important experiments that took place before the 19th century. Acoustics in the 19th century is characterized by describing the work of seven outstanding acousticians: Tyndall, von Helmholtz, Rayleigh, Stokes, Bell, Edison, and Koenig. Of course this sampling omits the mention of many other outstanding investigators.

To represent acoustics during the 20th century, we have selected eight areas of acoustics, again not trying to be all-inclusive. We select the eight areas represented by the first eight technical areas in the Acoustical Society of America. These are architectural acoustics, physical acoustics, engineering acoustics, structural acoustics, underwater acoustics, physiological and psychological acoustics, speech, and musical acoustics. We apologize to readers whose main interest is in another area of acoustics. It is, after all, a broad interdisciplinary field.

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Abbreviations

AC:

articulation class

ADP:

ammonium dihydrogen phosphate

CAATI:

computed angle-of-arrival transient imaging

FFT:

fast Fourier transform

KDP:

potassium dihydrogen phosphate

LP:

long-play vinyl record

PZT:

lead zirconate titanate

SAW:

surface acoustic wave

SEA:

statistical energy analysis

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) Department of Music, Stanford University, 94305, Stanford, CA, USA

    Thomas Rossing

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  1. Thomas Rossing
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Correspondence to Thomas Rossing .

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  1. Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, Stanford University, 94305, Stanford, CA, USA

    Thomas D. Rossing Prof.

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© 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC New York

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Rossing, T. (2007). A Brief History of Acoustics. In: Rossing, T. (eds) Springer Handbook of Acoustics. Springer Handbooks. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30425-0_2

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