Audio engineering

EE-548 / 4 credits

Teacher: Lissek Hervé

Language: English

Summary

This lecture is oriented towards the study of audio engineering, room acoustics, sound propagation, and sound radiation from sources and acoustic antennas. The learning outcomes will be the techniques for microphones and loudspeaker design, as well as room acoustics.

Content

I Audition

  1. The human hearing system
  2. Introduction to psychoacoustics
  3. Basics on noise control engineering

II Room Acoustics

  1. Wave theory
  2. Geometrical room acoustics
  3. Statistical (Sabine) room acoustics

III Electroacoustics analogies: application to transducers and wind instruments

  1. A brief reminder on electroacoustics
  2. Electroacoustic transducers
  3. Application to wind instrument design

IV Microphones

  1. General properties
  2. Microphones theory
  3. Microphone realization

V Loudspeaker design

  1. The electrodynamic loudspeaker
  2. Loudspeaker system design (enclosures)
  3. Loudspeaker realization

VI Electroacoustic absorbers

Keywords

Auditory system

Psychoacoustics

Room acoustics

Electroacoustics

Electroacoustic transducers

Wind instruments

Microphones

Loudspeakers

Learning Prerequisites

Required courses

General physics

Circuits and systems

Recommended courses

Electroacoustics

Important concepts to start the course

Electrotechnics: transfer functions, impulse response, electric system characterization, filtering, bode representation

Transmission lines: wave propagation equations in 1D, circuit modeling, Kirchhoff theory

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, the student must be able to:

  • Analyze the auditory system from the physical viewpoint
  • the perceptive hearing phenomena through objective measures
  • a room with respect to acoustic quality criteria
  • room acoustics performance
  • Synthesize microphones and loudspeaker systems out of specifications
  • acoustic/electroacoustic specifications from room acoustics requirements
  • Analyze microphone and loudspeaker systems
  • Analyze sound propagation in wind instruments

Transversal skills

  • Use a work methodology appropriate to the task.
  • Set objectives and design an action plan to reach those objectives.

Teaching methods

Ex cathedra lectures

Specialized seminars on side topics

Exercises in groups

Practical work, including numerical simulations

Assessment methods

Final written exam.

Resources

Bibliography

M. Rossi, Audio, Presses Polytechniques Universitaires Romandes, 2007

H. Kutruff, Room Acoustics, Spon Press, 4th edition, 2003

Ressources en bibliothèque

Notes/Handbook

Available on the Lab website (upload on a weekly basis).

Websites

Moodle Link

Prerequisite for

Master projects, PhD thesis.

In the programs

  • Semester: Fall
  • Exam form: Written (winter session)
  • Subject examined: Audio engineering
  • Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Exercises: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Type: optional
  • Semester: Fall
  • Exam form: Written (winter session)
  • Subject examined: Audio engineering
  • Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Exercises: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Type: optional
  • Semester: Fall
  • Exam form: Written (winter session)
  • Subject examined: Audio engineering
  • Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Exercises: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Type: optional
  • Semester: Fall
  • Exam form: Written (winter session)
  • Subject examined: Audio engineering
  • Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Exercises: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Type: optional

Reference week

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