A voice changes in pitch when the muscles of the larynx relax or tighten, changing the tension on the vocal chords. This vibration escapes the mouth along with puffs of air as sound. As air travels up and past the vocal cords, it causes them to vibrate. These folds open and close rhythmically, creating a pressure buildup. People create sounds by pushing air up through their lungs and through elastic folds in the throat called vocal cords. Power is the rate at which energy is transferred by the wave. In general, the intensity of a wave is the power per unit area carried by the wave.

Figure 14.10 shows such a cartoon depiction of a bird loudly expressing its opinion.Ī useful quantity for describing the loudness of sounds is called sound intensity. In cartoons showing a screaming person, the cartoonist often shows an open mouth with a vibrating uvula (the hanging tissue at the back of the mouth) to represent a loud sound coming from the throat.

But in a traffic jam filled with honking cars, you may have to shout just so the person next to you can hear Figure 14.9.The loudness of a sound is related to how energetically its source is vibrating. In a quiet forest, you can sometimes hear a single leaf fall to the ground. Sound intensity is defined as the sound power per unit area, whereas amplitude is the distance between the resting position and the crest of a wave. While sound intensity is proportional to amplitude, they are different physical quantities. Students may be confused between amplitude and intensity.

Decibel log scale