Divisions of Acoustic

Divisions of acoustics


The following are the main sub-disciplines of acoustics:

Acoustical measurements and instrumentation

Acoustic signal processing

Aeroacoustics: study of aerodynamic sound, generated when a fluid flow interacts with a solid surface or with another flow. It has particular application to aeronautics, examples being the study of sound made by flying jets and the physics of shock waves (sonic booms).

Architectural acoustics: study of sound waves distribution in variously shaped enclosed or partly enclosed spaces with effects of sound waves on objects of different shapes which are in their way. Mostly concentrated on how sound and buildings interact, including the behavior of sound in concert halls and auditoriums but also in office buildings, factories and homes.


Bioacoustics: study of the use of sound by animals such as whales, dolphins, bats etc.

Biomedical acoustics: study of the use of sound in medicine, for example the use of ultrasound for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.

Environmental noise: study of the sound propagation in the human environment, noise health effects and noise mitigation analysis.

Psychoacoustics: study of subjective reaction of living beings to sound, hearing, perception, and localization.

Physiological acoustics: study of the mechanical, electrical and biochemical function of hearing in living organisms.

Physical acoustics: study of the detailed interaction of sound with materials and fluids and includes, for example, sonoluminescence (the emission of light by bubbles in a liquid excited by sound) and thermoacoustics (the interaction of sound and heat).

Speech communication: study of how speech is produced, the analysis of speech signals and the properties of speech transmission, storage, recognition and enhancement.

Structural acoustics and vibration: study of how sound and mechanical structures interact; for example, the transmission of sound through walls and the radiation of sound from vehicle panels.

Transduction: study of how sound is generated and measured by loudspeakers, microphones, sonar projectors, hydrophones, ultrasonic transducers and sensors.

Ultrasonics: study of high frequency sound, beyond the range of human hearing.

Musical acoustics: study of the physics of musical instruments.

Underwater acoustics: study of the propagation of sound in water.

Nonlinear Acoustics: study of large amplitude sound waves that propagate according to the Westervelt-Lighthill equation (in fluids) and analogous theories in other types of media (see parametric array).