How can humans, in air, hear sound generated underwater (and can goldfish hear their owners talking)?
How can humans, in air, hear sound generated underwater (and can goldfish hear their owners talking)?
The air/water interface at the top of a body of water is often treated from below as a pressure release boundary, which it closely matches. The small discrepancy in that match, however, is enough to enable humans in air to hear sounds generated underwater, which would not be possible across a pressure release boundary. A discussion of this phenomenon, designed for teaching purposes and using no more acoustics than would be contained in a first-year undergraduate syllabus in acoustics, leads to a discussion of whether goldfish can hear their owners speaking. The analysis is then used to illustrate the care needed when comparing sound levels in air and water, a process which continues to lead to erroneous statements in the media and some academic articles.
2539-2542
Leighton, Timothy G.
3e5262ce-1d7d-42eb-b013-fcc5c286bbae
March 2012
Leighton, Timothy G.
3e5262ce-1d7d-42eb-b013-fcc5c286bbae
Leighton, Timothy G.
(2012)
How can humans, in air, hear sound generated underwater (and can goldfish hear their owners talking)?
[in special issue: Part 2 Education in Acoustics]
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 131 (3), .
(doi:10.1121/1.3681137).
Abstract
The air/water interface at the top of a body of water is often treated from below as a pressure release boundary, which it closely matches. The small discrepancy in that match, however, is enough to enable humans in air to hear sounds generated underwater, which would not be possible across a pressure release boundary. A discussion of this phenomenon, designed for teaching purposes and using no more acoustics than would be contained in a first-year undergraduate syllabus in acoustics, leads to a discussion of whether goldfish can hear their owners speaking. The analysis is then used to illustrate the care needed when comparing sound levels in air and water, a process which continues to lead to erroneous statements in the media and some academic articles.
This record has no associated files available for download.
More information
Published date: March 2012
Organisations:
Acoustics Group
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 336274
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/336274
ISSN: 0001-4966
PURE UUID: 5e2c129a-f77b-4e14-a093-b3a793c80991
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 20 Mar 2012 16:24
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 02:45
Export record
Altmetrics
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics
