# acoustics > Acoustics is the science of mechanical waves in all matter. It examines how sound, vibration, and ultrasound are produced, controlled, and perceived by sensors or living things as they reflect, absorb, and refract through the environment **Wikidata**: [Q82811](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q82811) **Wikipedia**: [English](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustics) **Source**: https://4ort.xyz/entity/acoustics ## Summary Acoustics is the science of mechanical waves in all matter. It examines how sound, vibration, and ultrasound are produced, controlled, and perceived by sensors or living things as they reflect, absorb, and refract through the environment. ## Key Facts - Acoustics is defined as the science of mechanical waves in all matter. - It is classified as a branch of physics, the study of matter and its motion. - The field is recognized as an academic discipline. - Joseph Sauveur (1653–1716), a French mathematician, is credited as the founder of the science of acoustics. - The study encompasses the production, control, and perception of sound, vibration, and ultrasound. - Key processes examined include reflection, absorption, and refraction of waves through the environment. - The entity has a sitelink count of 97. ## FAQs **What are the primary sub-disciplines within acoustics?** The field includes numerous specialized branches such as bioacoustics, thermoacoustics, architectural acoustics, underwater acoustics, room acoustics, archaeoacoustics, phonetics, musical acoustics, aeroacoustics, electroacoustics, and nonlinear acoustics. **Who is considered the founder of acoustics?** Joseph Sauveur, a French mathematician who lived from 1653 to 1716, is identified as the founder of the science of acoustics. **How does acoustics intersect with other fields of study?** It serves as a parent or related field to various domains including physics, linguistics (via phonetics), biology (via bioacoustics), and engineering (via electroacoustics and architectural acoustics). **What types of waves and phenomena does acoustics study?** It investigates mechanical waves in all matter, specifically focusing on sound, vibration, and ultrasound as they are produced, controlled, and perceived by sensors or living things. ## Why It Matters Acoustics provides the fundamental framework for understanding how mechanical waves interact with the environment and matter. This knowledge is critical for diverse applications, ranging from the design of buildings with optimal sound quality (architectural acoustics) to the analysis of human speech (phonetics) and the physics of music. By studying how sound reflects, absorbs, and refracts, acoustics enables advancements in technology, such as electroacoustic devices, and deepens the understanding of biological and physical phenomena across different media, including underwater environments. ## Notable For - Being founded by Joseph Sauveur, a French mathematician. - Encompassing the study of "auditory events," which refers to the subjective perception of sound situations. - Including the sub-discipline of archaeoacoustics, which studies the relationship between sound waves and ancient relics or structures. - Integrating the study of heat-sound interactions through thermoacoustics. - Serving as a foundational science for numerous engineering and biological fields. ## Body ### Scientific Foundation and Scope Acoustics is fundamentally a branch of physics, dedicated to the study of matter and its motion, along with related concepts such as energy and force. As an academic discipline, it focuses on mechanical waves in all matter. The field examines the entire lifecycle of sound, vibration, and ultrasound, detailing how these phenomena are produced, controlled, and perceived. This involves analyzing how waves reflect, absorb, and refract through the environment, whether detected by sensors or living things. ### Sub-disciplines and Branches The science of acoustics is divided into numerous specialized branches, each focusing on specific environments or applications: * **Bioacoustics:** A biological subdiscipline. * **Thermoacoustics:** The study of heat-sound interactions. * **Architectural Acoustics:** The science and engineering of achieving good sound within a building. * **Underwater Acoustics:** The study of the propagation of sound in water and the interaction of sound waves with the water and its boundaries. * **Room Acoustics:** The study of how sound behaves in an enclosed space. * **Archaeoacoustics:** The study of sound or soundwaves and their relation to ancient relics and structures. * **Phonetics:** A branch of linguistics comprising the study of the sounds of human speech. * **Musical Acoustics:** A branch concerned with researching and describing the physics of music. * **Aeroacoustics:** A distinct branch of acoustics. * **Electroacoustics:** A branch of acoustic engineering. * **Nonlinear Acoustics:** A branch of both physics and acoustics. ### Notable Figures and Contributors Throughout history, many scientists, engineers, and mathematicians have contributed to the field of acoustics. **Founders and Early Physicists** * **Joseph Sauveur:** A French mathematician (1653–1716) recognized as the founder of the science of acoustics. * **George Green:** A British mathematical physicist (1793–1841). * **Félix Savart:** A French physicist (1791–1841). * **Heinrich Hertz:** A German physicist (1857–1894). * **Vinko Dvořák:** A Czech physicist (1848–1922). * **Felix Auerbach:** A German Jewish physicist and art collector (1856–1933). **Engineers and Acousticians** * **Wallace Clement Sabine:** An American physicist (1868–1919). * **Leo Beranek:** An American acoustical engineer (1914–2016). * **James West:** An American inventor and acoustician. * **Gunnar Fant:** A Swedish engineer and linguist (1919–2009). * **Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Kharkevich:** A Soviet scientist (1904–1965). * **Erich Schumann:** A German physicist, acoustician, and musicologist (1898–1985). * **Harvey Fletcher:** An American physicist (1884–1981). **Modern and Interdisciplinary Contributors** * **Max Mathews:** An American pioneer in computer music, known as an inventor, university teacher, computer scientist, and engineer. * **Tsutomu Ōhashi:** A Japanese artist and scientist. * **Anatoly Sukhorukov:** A Russian physicist. * **Felix Kolmer:** A physicist and university teacher. * **Nikolaĭ Nikolaevich Andreev:** A Russian physicist (1880–1970). * **Leonid Brekhovskikh:** A Soviet scientist (1917–2005). * **František Koláček:** A Czech physicist and mathematician. * **August Orth:** A German architect (1828–1901). ### Related Fields and Organizations Acoustics connects to broader concepts and organizations beyond its immediate scientific branches. * **Academic Discipline:** Acoustics is categorized as an academic field of study or profession. * **Auditory Event:** This concept relates to the subjective perception experienced when listening to a certain sound situation. * **AAC Technologies Holdings Inc:** A Chinese technology organization founded in 1993, operating within the technology industry and headquartered in Hong Kong. ## References 1. Directory of Open Access Journals 2. Nuovo soggettario 3. Freebase Data Dumps. 2013 4. YSO-Wikidata mapping project 5. BabelNet 6. UMLS 2023 7. Quora 8. National Library of Israel Names and Subjects Authority File 9. KBpedia 10. GF WordNet 11. [acoustics · GitHub Topics · GitHub](https://github.com/topics/acoustics) 12. [OpenAlex](https://docs.openalex.org/download-snapshot/snapshot-data-format)