The Origin of "Complex Tones". Multiphonic Sounds generated with Wine Glasses and Woodwind Instruments

Scientific Study from the year 2023 in the subject Physics - Acoustics, language: English, abstract: This study examines if wine glasses can generate multiphonic sounds as a result of a hit with a metal stick on the bowl of the wine glass (hit-excitation). It demonstrates that at least two Eigenfrequenzen (= natural frequencies) of the excited wine glasses with frequencies in Hz of "F1" and "F2" (with F2) will generate complex tones with frequencies in Hz of "F2+F1" and "F2-F1" - which is a typical characteristic of multiphonic sounds known from woodwind instruments. Based on the analysis of the decay kinetics of the Eigenfrequenzen and the complex tones after a hit-excitation of the wine glass, the hypothesis has been developed that the oscillations F1 and F2 build a power-profile which can be mathematically described as a multiplication of the amplitude-values of both oscillations and that this power-profile is the driving force to generate oscillations of some areas of the walls of the bowl of the wine glasses with the frequencies "F2-F1" and "F2+F1".