Question

A person can be identified by the quality of sound produced by him. The characteristic of a sound can be determined by
(A) Amplitude
(B) Frequency
(C) Loudness
(D) All of the above.

Answer 1

Hint : Sound is a wave. And every person’s voice can be distinguished from others based on three-component intensity, pitch, and tone. These three components depend on amplitude, frequency, wavelength, etc. The vocal sound is also being used to identify a person. We will analyze every component here to understand how a person is identified.

Complete Step-by-step-solution:
Step 1: Sound is a wave and waves have amplitude or height. Amplitude is a measure of energy. The more energy a wave has, the higher its amplitude. As amplitude increases, intensity also increases. Intensity is the amount of energy a sound has over an area. The same sound is more intense if you hear it in a smaller area. In general, we call sounds with a higher intensity louder. Loudness cannot be assigned a specific number, but intensity can. Intensity is measured in decibels. Therefore, the characteristics of the sound are Amplitude and loudness.
Step 2: Pitch helps us distinguish between low and high sounds. Pitch depends on the frequency of a sound wave. Frequency is the number of wavelengths that fit into one unit of time. Remember that a wavelength is equal to one compression and one rarefaction. Even though the singer sang the same note, because the sounds had different frequencies, we heard them as different. Frequencies are measured in hertz. One hertz is equal to one cycle of compression and rarefaction per second. High sounds have high frequencies and low sounds have low frequencies. Therefore, another characteristic of sound is frequency.

Hence the correct option is Option D.

Note: Another difference you may have noticed between sounds is that some sounds are pleasant while others are unpleasant. A beginning violin player sounds very different from a violin player in a symphony, even if they are playing the same note. A violin also sounds different from a flute playing the same pitch. This is because they have a different tone or sound quality. When a source vibrates, it actually vibrates with many frequencies at the same time. Each of those frequencies produces a wave. Sound quality depends on the combination of different frequencies of sound waves.