Comparison of Musical Sound and Noise

Acoustics is a branch of science which deals with the planning of building or hall with a view to provide best audible sound to the audience is called acoustics.

Acoustics is the science of sound which deals with the properties of sound waves, their origin, propagation and their action on obstacles.

It finds wide applications in many fields. Some of the important applications in the fields of engineering are acoustical instruments design, electro-acoustics, architectural acoustics and musical acoustics.

Classification of Sound

Based on frequency of sound waves, they can be classified into three categories.

Ultrasonic waves (above $20,000 Hz$ )
Audible waves $(20-20,000 Hz)$
Infrasonic waves (below $20 Hz$ )

Classification of audible sound

The audible sound waves are generally classified into two categories, namely,

i) Musical sound and

ii) Noise

Musical sound:

The sound which produces a pleasant effect on the ear is called musical sound. Example: Sound produced by musical instruments like violin, sitar, flute, piano etc.

Noise:

The sound which produces an unpleasant effect or jarring effect on the ear. Example: Sound produced by an aircraft, generator etc.

Table (1) – Comparison of musical sound and noise

S.No	Musical Sound	Noise
1.	The waveform of a musical sound is regular in shape and has definite periodicity	The waveform of a noise is irregular in shape and does not have periodicity
2.	There are no sudden changes in amplitude.	It involves sudden changes in amplitude.
3.
4.	E.g., Musical instrument	E.g., Street traffic, noise produced by an aircraft, generator etc.