The Science and Applications of Acoustics

By Daniel Raichel

This textbook covers modern acoustics - from the basics of wave propagation in solids and fluids to such applications as noise control and cancellation, underwater acoustics, music and voice... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0387989072
• ISBN13: 9780387989075
• Release Date: May 2000
• Publisher: Springer
• Length: 620 Pages
• Weight: 2.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.2" x 1.4" x 6.1"

Customer Reviews

Great material for the study of general and musical acoustics

This is an excellent general book on acoustics at the upper undergraduate to graduate level aimed at the mathematically mature. The reader should already have a knowledge of calculus, ordinary differential equations, and partial differential equations. However, unlike Kinser's book on the subject, it looks at both the forest and the trees. In most chapters the book will discuss a subject for a few paragraphs, show relevant equations, and then illustrate with a numerical example that solves a practical problem in acoustics so that the reader can join theory and practice. Chapters one through nine should probably be read in sequence, since the author is covering the basics of acoustics that is common to all disciplines. From that point forward, though, you can pick and choose what you're interested in. The later chapters have subject matter on architectural acoustics, noise and vibration control, ultrasonics, and even a short concluding chapter on nonlinear acoustics. My personal interest was in finding a good book on acoustics that covers subject matter that is of interest to musicians but keeps the mathematics of the engineering texts on the subject while managing to not become a jungle of equations in the process. This book seems to be the one I've been looking for. Just about all of the chapters minus the ones on ultrasonics and machinery noise will be of use to students of musical acoustics, plus the longest chapter in the book focuses specifically on the physics of musical instruments and is a very good companion to "The Physics of Musical Instruments". This chapter discusses musical notation and musical instruments including strings, wind instruments, percussion instruments, and electronic instruments, as well as recording equipment, and playback audio equipment. However, this chapter is not particularly quantitative in its treatment of the subject and it also has no end of chapter exercises like most of the other chapters in the book, probably because it was written as a general textbook, not as one specifically for students of musical acoustics. I would recommend this as a good textbook for readers that want a good grounding in the basics and mathematics of general acoustics and also for those who want to learn something specifically about musical acoustics.

An excellent undergraduate textbook on acoustics

This is a good up-to-date engineering text on acoustics for upper division college students. There are plenty of good exercises at the ends of the chapters. The author points out that acoustics has changed in the past twenty years to encompass ultrasonics and infrasonics. There are a number of new "applications in materials science, medicine, dentistry, oceanography, marine navigation, communications, petroleum and mineral prospecting, industrial processes, music and voice synthesis, animal bioacoustics, and noise control." And of course, improvements are being made in more classical parts of this field. To use this text, you ought to have studied lower division physics for engineers, calculus, and ordinary and partial differential equations. I like the fact that the book includes chapters on psychoacoustics, noise control, underwater acoustics, ultrasonics, and musical instruments. Not all acoustics texts cover all this! It makes this one of the more comprehensive acoustics books. Still, I would have liked to see even more material, perhaps on topics such as shock waves or second sound in liquid helium. This is a well-written textbook. I'd be happy to teach a class using it.