Acoustics: Sound Fields and Transducers

Acoustics: Sound Fields and Transducers is a thoroughly updated version of Leo Beranek's classic 1954 book that retains and expands on the original's detailed acoustical fundamentals while adding practical formulas and simulation methods.

Serving both as a text for students in engineering departments and as a reference for practicing engineers, this book focuses on electroacoustics, analyzing the behavior of transducers with the aid of electro-mechano-acoustical circuits. Assuming knowledge of electrical circuit theory, it starts by guiding readers through the basics of sound fields, the laws governing sound generation, radiation, and propagation, and general terminology. It then moves on to examine:

• Microphones (electrostatic and electromagnetic), electrodynamic loudspeakers, earphones, and horns
• Loudspeaker enclosures, baffles, and waveguides
• Miniature applications (e.g., MEMS in I-Pods and cellphones)
• Sound in enclosures of all sizes, such as school rooms, offices, auditoriums, and living rooms

Numerical examples and summary charts are given throughout the text to make the material easily applicable to practical design. It is a valuable resource for experimenters, acoustical consultants, and to those who anticipate being engineering designers of audio equipment.

• An update for the digital age of Leo Beranek's classic 1954 book Acoustics
• Provides detailed acoustic fundamentals, enabling better understanding of complex design parameters, measurement methods, and data
• Extensive appendices cover frequency-response shapes for loudspeakers, mathematical formulas, and conversion factors

Tim Mellow was educated at Boundary Oak School and Lancing College before obtaining a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering and Electronics from the University of Dundee, Scotland, in 1985. A career as a Design engineer at BICC, Marconi, Thorn EMI, Racal, VTech, and Nokia followed. In 2011, he co-founded Mellow Acoustics Ltd with Philip Trevelyan to both provide an acoustical consultancy service and to develop high-end audio products. Tim takes a keen interest in music and plays the piano in his spare time. He has published many articles on audio and acoustics over the years, including 11 papers in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, mainly with Leo Kärkkäinen as co-author.