Sound Wave Compressions and Expansions

The compressions and expansions of air in a sound wave are described in the window below. The animation on the right of the window illustrates how sound waves travel and how the compressions and expansions map to a sinusoidal function.



Range of Human Hearing

The human range of hearing is described in the window below. Human hearing may detect frequencies from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. The animation on the right plays a tone as it increments through the detectable frequencies of human hearing.



To listen to a tone played across frequencies in the human hearing range, press the sound button for the appropriate audio format.

AIFF format

AU format

Macintosh System 7


Return to sound wave module page

This file was last updated on May 8, 1995.