Sound energy

In physics, sound energy is a form of energy that can be heard by living beings. Only those waves that have a frequency of 16Hz to 20kHz are audible to humans. However, this range is an average and will slightly change from individual to individual. Sound waves that have frequencies below 16Hz are called infrasonic and those above 20kHz are called ultrasonic. Sound is a mechanical wave and as such consists physically in oscillatory elastic compression and in oscillatory displacement of a fluid. Therefore, the medium acts as storage for both potential and kinetic energy.[1]

Sound measurements
Characteristic	Symbols
Sound pressure	p, SPL,LPA
Particle velocity	v, SVL
Particle displacement	δ
Sound intensity	I, SIL
Sound power	P, SWL, LWA
Sound energy	W
Sound energy density	w
Sound exposure	E, SEL
Acoustic impedance	Z
Audio frequency	AF
Transmission loss	TL

Consequently, the sound energy in a volume of interest is defined as the sum of the potential and kinetic energy densities integrated over that volume:

${\displaystyle W=W_{\mathrm {potential} }+W_{\mathrm {kinetic} }=\int _{V}{\frac {p^{2}}{2\rho _{0}c^{2}}}\,\mathrm {d} V+\int _{V}{\frac {\rho v^{2}}{2}}\,\mathrm {d} V,}$

Here:

• V is the volume of interest;
• p is the sound pressure;
• v is the particle velocity;
• ρ₀ is the density of the medium without sound present;
• ρ is the local density of the medium;
• c is the speed of sound.

See also

• Sound energy density

References

1. Müller, G., Möser, M. (2012). Handbook of Engineering Acoustics. Springer. p. 7. ISBN 9783540694601.