Sound, Acoustics
What is sound? What is a decibel? How does the ear work? These questions
and much more answered in this detailed text document.
"Exciting World of Acoustical Links from Denmark" A large collection of
interesting, entertaining and useful links about acoustics.
Hearing
Auditory Perception Lab, Center for New Music & Audio Technologies, Auditory
Physiology, Hearing and Acoustics resources.
"engaged in an exploration of the auditory system from the ear canal through
the inner ear and into the cortex of the brain...improve hearing aids, auditory
implants and develop innovative treatments and intervention methods."
How to prevent your hearing from being damaged by loud noise, from the American
Academy of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery.
Information about "ringing ears and other head noises perceived in the absence
of any external noise source"
"..to educate the public on the dangers of excessive noise, and to provide
adequate hearing protection for musicians and music fans."
"...the risk of hearing damage from headphones is higher than with
loudspeakers, even at comparable volumes, due to the close coupling of the
transducers to the ears."
Audiophile Equipment
"obsessed headphone geeks at your service" -- retailer of Headphones and
manufacturer of headphone amplifiers.
High Fidelity Earplugs
Flat attenuation, clear unmuffled sound quality. From Etymotic Research:
ER-20 Hi-Fi Earplugs (ready-fit), and Musicians Earplugs
(custom molded). Also see Hearos, Pacific Coast Laboratories,
and Westone music products.
Is there an audible difference between tube sound and transistor sound?
An elegant loudspeaker design. A friend made something similar to these using
the Fostex FE83E driver. A single full-range driver with no crossover
provides a smooth uncolored sound quality. Light on the bass, but wonderful
reproduction of voice and acoustical instruments. Also known as a Voight pipe.
Also see the Single Driver Website.
Berkeley's oldest stereo store, specializing in refurbished components.
Musical Instruments
"For the design, construction and enjoyment of unusual musical instruments or
sound sources..."
Directions and Formula's for making wind chimes out of solid cylinders or tubes of metal.
Bioacoustics
Animal communication and associated behavior, sound production, auditory
capacities and mechanisms, effects of human-made noise on animals.
Whales and other Cetaceans inhabit an extraordinary acoustic realm,
communicating by "singing" to each other across thousands of miles of ocean
with powerful voices that can exceed 150 decibels. Ocean Alliance has recorded
songs from humpback populations throughout the world, building a whale song
library that contains the largest collection of humpback recordings -- over
6,000 hours of sounds. Here are a few samples of the whale sounds they've
recorded. While on their site, take a look at the voyage of the Odyssey.
Oceans of Noise
Due to human activities, the oceans are much noisier today than they were just
a few decades ago. Because whales and dolphins are so dependent on their sense
of sound, this poses a major threat to their wellbeing. For more information,
see the 165 page research paper Oceans of Noise (pdf) published by the
Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society ([WDCS][]). Also, check out the article
Human Noise and Whale Song, "...interfering with the love chat-line,
acoustic pollution...could make it more difficult for whales to find each
other..."
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