Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Can there be out phase interference of sound waves or any longitudinal waves?

Hi,

Can sound waves destructively interfere? Yes . You may have heard of noise canceling headphones that you can wear in airplanes and other noisy environments to give you peace and quiet. These headphones take the noise sound waves in and produce equally loud sound that is out of phase with the ambient sound. These two sounds destructively interfere with each other to produce near silence for the user.

Here are some websites on the topic:

http://www.ndt-ed.org/EducationResource ... erence.htm

http://library.thinkquest.org/19537/Physics5.html

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hb ... nterf.html

Best regards,

Barrett L. Tomlinson