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Beats

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Summary

Areas of Science
Difficulty
 
Time Required
Long (2-4 weeks)
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Abstract

Beats are a pattern of oscillating sound intensity (i.e., the volume of the pattern grows and fades with a regular cycle). They occur when two tones of almost equal frequency interfere. People can perceive beat frequencies below about 7 Hz. Figure out how to create sound files to play pure tones on your computer. Create files with a pure tone of one frequency in the left channel, and a pure tone of a different frequency in the right channel. Systematically explore different frequency combinations. What frequency combinations result in beats? Use a second computer (or digital recording device), to record the sounds of the left speaker alone, the right speaker alone, and both speakers together. Use sound editing software to examine and analyze the recorded files.
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Careers

If you like this project, you might enjoy exploring these related careers:

Career Profile
Any time you hear music at a concert, a live speech, the police sirens in a TV show, or the six o'clock news you're hearing the work of a sound engineering technician. Sound engineering technicians operate machines and equipment to record, synchronize, mix, or reproduce music, voices, or sound effects in recording studios, sporting arenas, theater productions, or movie and video productions. Read more
Career Profile
Computers are essential tools in the modern world, handling everything from traffic control, car welding, movie animation, shipping, aircraft design, and social networking to book publishing, business management, music mixing, health care, agriculture, and online shopping. Computer programmers are the people who write the instructions that tell computers what to do. Read more

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MLA Style

Science Buddies Staff. "Beats." Science Buddies, 28 July 2017, https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/Music_p001/music/beats?class=AQWWP2pB9zeCSnov8E1YC5bgnNpanMou4yLvbCXEvsCfSKeGVmWQ89E0L7QnAeewtDJvthr_jTkeW9LHQ8JT-lIqCbj07mFGpYbvuiohVXmgzg. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.

APA Style

Science Buddies Staff. (2017, July 28). Beats. Retrieved from https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/Music_p001/music/beats?class=AQWWP2pB9zeCSnov8E1YC5bgnNpanMou4yLvbCXEvsCfSKeGVmWQ89E0L7QnAeewtDJvthr_jTkeW9LHQ8JT-lIqCbj07mFGpYbvuiohVXmgzg


Last edit date: 2017-07-28
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