Decay rates and wall absorption at low frequencies

This paper is concerned with evaluating the error of conventional estimates of the boundary absorption of rectangular enclosures, with particular reference to reverberation room sound power measurements. The reverberation process is examined theoretically; the relative contributions to the decay rate from different modes in a rectangular room are calculated from an ensemble average over rooms with nearly the same dimensions. It is shown that the traditional method of determining the absorption of the walls of reverberation rooms systematically underestimates the absorption at low frequencies; the error is computed from the ensemble average. Finally, an unbiased estimate of the sound power radiated by a source in a reverberation room is derived. This estimate involves measurement of the initial decay rates of the room and is, unlike the usual reverberation room sound power estimate, neither based on statistical diffuse field considerations nor on the normal mode theory.     

On the generic behavior of the electrical permittivity at low frequencies

We discuss the complex-valued electrical permittivity and show that generally the real part ?^′(ω) is a decreasing function of frequency from ω=0 to near the location of the first resonance. This behavior results from the dominance of dipolar relaxation, and we use a theory with a general distribution function y(τ) of relaxation times to describe it. Our result applies to a very wide class of materials, typically up to THz frequencies.     

Hydrogen plasma absorption coefficients at laser frequencies

Detailed numerical calculations of hydrogen-plasma absorption coefficients are performed for a number of laser wavelengths between 0·3371 and 10·6 μ, in a wide range of plasma densities (10¹⁶-10²¹ cm^-3) and temperatures (0·5–10⁵ eV). The numerical data are then utilized to determine plasma temperatures in pulsed linear discharge experiments which measure CO₂-laser i.r. absorption. Some features of dense plasma laser-heating are also discussed.     

The importance of sound absorption in air at low ultrasonic frequencies for architectural acoustic models

A review of the absorption mechanism of sound in air is given in simple terms and is followed by a brief report on the level to which architectural acoustic models require to be dried in order to match the air absorption in their full-sized counterpart. The level must necessarily be a compromise depending on the ultrasonic range of frequencies used in the model and is further complicated by the lack of absorption data available at very low percentage values of relative humidity.     

Effect of the open roof on low frequency acoustic propagation in street canyons

This paper presents an experimental, numerical and analytical study of the open roof effect on acoustic propagation along a 3D urban canyon. The experimental study is led by means of a street scale model. The numerical results are performed with a 2D-Finite Difference in Time Domain approach adapted to take into account the acoustic radiation losses due to the street open roof. An analytical model, based on the modal decomposition of the pressure field in the street width mixed with a 2D image sources model including the reflection by the open roof, is also presented. Results are given for several frequencies in the low frequency domain. The comparison of these approaches shows a quite good agreement until f = 100 Hz at full scale. For higher frequency, experimental results show that the leakage, due to the street open roof, is not anymore uniformly distributed on all modes of the street. The notion of leaky modes must be introduced to model the acoustic propagation in a street canyon.     

Heterodyne spectroscopy at very low frequencies

We have studied the spectrum of light scattered by capillary waves, thermally excited at the free surface of highly viscous liquids, by heterodyne spectroscopy techniques. We were able to measure spectral widths down to 0.2 Hz.     

Acoustic properties of glasses at low temperatures and low frequencies

We generalize the low temperature expressions for the variation of the sound velocity and sound absorption in glasses due to structural defects for the case of arbitrary frequencies. In case ωτ₂ ? 1 our expressions reduce to well known results.     

Lower hybrid resonance at low collision frequencies

For low collision frequencies the power transfer to a plasma in the domain of the lower hybrid resonance is measured under linear conditions. Geometrical resonances due to radial eigenmodes are observed to be strongly suppressed as compared to theoretical expectations.     

Auditory filter shapes at low center frequencies

Auditory-filter shapes were estimated in normally hearing subjects for signal frequencies (fs) of 100, 200, 400, and 800 Hz using the notched-noise method [R. D. Patterson and I. Nimmo-Smith, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 67, 229-245 (1980)]. Two noise bands, each 0.4fs wide, were used; they were placed both symmetrically and asymmetrically about the signal frequency to allow the measurement of filter shape and asymmetry. Two overall noise levels were used: 77 and 87 dB SPL. In deriving the shapes of the auditory filters, account was taken of the nonflat frequency response of the Sennheiser HD424 earphone, and also of the frequency-dependent attenuation produced by the middle ear. The auditory filters were asymmetric; the upper skirt was steeper than the lower skirt. The asymmetry tended to be greater at the higher noise level. The equivalent rectangular bandwidths (ERBs) of the filters at the lower noise level had average values of 36, 47, 87, and 147 Hz for values of fs of 100, 200, 400, and 800 Hz, respectively. The standard deviations of the ERBs across subjects were typically about 10% of the ERB values. The signal-to-masker ratio at the output of the auditory filter required to achieve threshold increased markedly with decreasing fs.     

Vortex mass in a superfluid at low frequencies

An inertial mass of a vortex can be calculated by driving it around in a circle with a steadily revolving pinning potential. We show that in the low-frequency limit this gives precisely the same formula that was used by Baym and Chandler, but find that the result is not unique and depends on the force field used to cause the acceleration. We apply this method to the Gross-Pitaevskii model, and derive a simple formula for the vortex mass. We study both the long-range and short-range properties of the solution. We agree with earlier results that the nonzero compressibility leads to a divergent mass. From the short-range behavior of the solution we find that the mass is sensitive to the form of the pinning potential, and diverges logarithmically when the radius of this potential tends to zero.     

Low-temperature elastic experiments on glasses at very low frequencies

The Grüneisen parameter and the low-frequency elastic loss of vitreous silica, PMMA, and of the metallic glasses PdSiCu, PdZr, and CuZr have been measured between 0.4 K and 6 K using an elasto-caloric technique. The absorption measurements between 5·10^–3 Hz and 30 Hz give further support for the tunneling model in a hitherto poorly investigated domain of relaxation times. New features of the low-temperature behaviour of glasses are a long-time creep and an absorption peak of the metallic glass PdZr nearT _c.Dedicated to K. Dransfeld on the occasion of his 60th birthday     

Psychophysical evidence for auditory compression at low characteristic frequencies

Psychophysical estimates of compression often assume that the basilar-membrane response to frequencies well below characteristic frequency (CF) is linear. Two techniques for estimating compression are described here that do not depend on this assumption at low CFs. In experiment 1, growth of forward masking was measured for both on- and off-frequency pure-tone maskers for pure-tone signals at 250, 500, and 4000 Hz. The on- and off-frequency masking functions at 250 and 500 Hz were just as shallow as the on-frequency masking function at 4000 Hz. In experiment 2, the forward masker level required to mask a fixed low-level signal was measured as a function of the masker-signal interval. The slopes of these functions did not differ between signal frequencies of 250 and 4000 Hz for the on-frequency maskers. At 250 Hz, the slope for the 150-Hz masker was almost as steep as that for the on-frequency masker, whereas at 4000 Hz the slope for the 2400-Hz masker was much shallower than that for the on-frequency masker. The results suggest that there is substantial compression, of around 0.2-0.3 dB/dB, at low CFs in the human auditory system. Furthermore, the results suggest that at low CFs compression does not vary greatly with stimulation frequency relative to CF.     

Third-order optical harmonic coefficients of atomic hydrogen at low frequencies

The analytical expression is derived for the third-order optical harmonic coefficients χ⁽³⁾₁₁₁₁ (ω, ω, ω) = χ⁽³⁾₂₂₂₂ (ω, ω, ω) = χ⁽³⁾₃₃₃₃ (ω, ω, ω) of the atomic hydrogen at very low frequencies ω → 0.     

A method of measuring dielectric losses at very low frequencies

The paper describes a method for measuring the dielectric losses in solids, using the oscillations of the sample on a torsion suspension in an electric field. The necessary relations are derived and the method is used in measuring the dielectric losses of vulcanized caoutchouc.In conclusion, the author would like to thank A. Havránek and R. Bakule for valuable remarks.     

Probing the speed of light with radio waves at extremely low frequencies

The speed of light, a fundamental physical constant and thought to be independent of frequency, is tested here with naturally occurring radio waves in the atmosphere at extremely low frequencies. It is shown that the speed of light in the frequency range 5-50 Hz is known with an accuracy determined by perturbations of the ionospheric reflection height associated with space weather phenomena, which place an upper limit on the photon rest mass mgamma < or approximately 4 x 10(-52) kg to date.     

Sound transmission at low frequencies through the walls of distorted circular ducts

A theoretical treatment of sound transmission through the walls of distorted circular ducts is given, for plane mode transmission within the duct. The transmission mechanism is essentially that of “mode coupling”, whereby higher structural modes in the duct walls are excited, because of the wall distortion, by the internal sound field. The theory is in two parts: an approximate analytical model for the structural response of the walls to the internal sound field, and a structural radiation model. Computed results, based on the theory, are compared to measurements on “long-seam” air conditioning ducts. Where the duct geometry can be reliably specified, reasonably good agreement is obtained between theoretical and experimental data. It is concluded that mode coupling effects serve to account for the discrepancies between ideal and observed behaviour in sound transmission through duct walls.