Experience teaching acoustics at the senior-undergraduate and first-year graduate levels

Abstract

Perhaps without appreciating it, college students are more fully equipped to understand and study acoustics than any other field of science. This assertion stems from the fact that most college students have two exquisite broadband receivers with impressive dynamic range (ears), and a matched multi-functional sound projector (voice). Given that nearly all college students have used their ears and voice for many years before arriving in an acoustics classroom, the advanced-acoustics instructor’s task is primarily to link theoretical results with the acoustic intuition that students already possess. Thus, a worthy pedagogical goal is to activate this submerged knowledge and connect it to mathematical results through practical examples, classroom demonstrations, and relevant homework. At the senior-level, useful demonstrations include the following: acoustic resonances of a cardboard tube, the dipole characteristics of small raw loudspeaker, directional reflection with a metal salad bowl, and sound volume changes as a loud speaker is lifted out of a cabinet. At the graduate level, useful homework assignments include boundary-element and finite-element calculations with commercial software that can be checked with established theory. In addition, worthwhile homework problems that attempt to provide sufficient reward for students who master the mathematical content have been developed for both classes.