Synchronization of Sound Sources

TL;DR

This paper investigates the synchronization phenomena between sound sources, demonstrating that even tiny driving signals can synchronize a pipe's oscillations over a wide range, with implications for noise control and nonlinear modeling.

Contribution

It provides a detailed experimental and theoretical analysis of sound source synchronization, including a novel nonlinear reconstruction method for precise modeling.

Findings

Synchronization range of three decades measured

Mutual silencing observed and explained by self-organized oscillations

Development of a nonlinear reconstruction method matching experiment and theory

Abstract

Sound generation and -interaction is highly complex, nonlinear and self-organized. Already 150 years ago Lord Rayleigh raised the following problem: Two nearby organ pipes of different fundamental frequencies sound together almost inaudibly with identical pitch. This effect is now understood qualitatively by modern synchronization theory (M. Abel et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 119(4), 2006). For a detailed, quantitative investigation, we substituted one pipe by an electric speaker. We observe that even minute driving signals force the pipe to synchronization, thus yielding three decades of synchronization -- the largest range ever measured to our knowledge. Furthermore, a mutual silencing of the pipe is found, which can be explained by self-organized oscillations, of use for novel methods of noise abatement. Finally, we develop a specific nonlinear reconstruction method which yields a perfect quantitative match of experiment and theory.