Tear a myth down - "A duck's quack doesn't echo"
Wednesday, 9. January 2008, 03:25:39
Urban Myth
Surfing on the internet, it can be found a lot of interesting facts, one of them is "A duck's quack doesn't echo". The premise is dubious because many sounds produce echo and why precisely a duck's quack. Fortunately in spring 2003 the urban myth fall down, Salford Acoustics was the source of the story being presented in the national and international media that revealed the
Concepts
Echo - The reflecting sound off a wall or inside a confined space so that a noise appears to be repeated.
Duck's quack - Each breed of duck generate particular sound and even the same breed is different male's quack from female's quack, then around the world exist plenty of quacks and how can't produce an echo?
Research
The centre of the acoustic research at the University of Salford in Manchester took place the research the popular urban myth. Daisy was the main character on the experiments because the research team use her quack. The first recording took place in anechoic chamber where Daisy's quack scatter without wave reflections in order to show what happen
Anechoic duck in WAV format (17k)
The next step was to record at reverberation chamber with cathedral-like acoustics. The room is used to measure properties of building products.
Reverberant duck in WAV format (500k)
Now, it's possible to simulate an open area such as cliff side where duck flying. By means of electronic box produced the sound expected.
Duck past cliff in WAV format (28k)
Results
Both recording sounds can be clearly heard when an echo occurs. Consequently, a duck's quack does echo but it might be hard to hear. The tests revealed that a duck's quack definitely echoes, but the power sound is too low for human ears.
References
Surfing on the internet, it can be found a lot of interesting facts, one of them is "A duck's quack doesn't echo". The premise is dubious because many sounds produce echo and why precisely a duck's quack. Fortunately in spring 2003 the urban myth fall down, Salford Acoustics was the source of the story being presented in the national and international media that revealed the
Concepts
Echo - The reflecting sound off a wall or inside a confined space so that a noise appears to be repeated.
Duck's quack - Each breed of duck generate particular sound and even the same breed is different male's quack from female's quack, then around the world exist plenty of quacks and how can't produce an echo?
Research
The centre of the acoustic research at the University of Salford in Manchester took place the research the popular urban myth. Daisy was the main character on the experiments because the research team use her quack. The first recording took place in anechoic chamber where Daisy's quack scatter without wave reflections in order to show what happen
Anechoic duck in WAV format (17k)
The next step was to record at reverberation chamber with cathedral-like acoustics. The room is used to measure properties of building products.
Reverberant duck in WAV format (500k)
Now, it's possible to simulate an open area such as cliff side where duck flying. By means of electronic box produced the sound expected.
Duck past cliff in WAV format (28k)
Results
Both recording sounds can be clearly heard when an echo occurs. Consequently, a duck's quack does echo but it might be hard to hear. The tests revealed that a duck's quack definitely echoes, but the power sound is too low for human ears.
References
WIDGETIZE