The sound of the udu

TL;DR

This paper models the udu, a Nigerian percussion instrument, as a Helmholtz resonator using a two-particle mechanical analogue, effectively capturing its main acoustic features.

Contribution

It introduces a simple mechanical model that accurately describes the acoustic behavior of the udu, providing insights into its resonant properties.

Findings

Model closely matches udu acoustics

Two-particle analogue effectively captures main features

Provides a basis for further acoustic analysis

Abstract

The udu is a traditional Nigerian percussion instrument that can be thought of as a Helmholtz resonator with two apertures. We use a simple two-particle mechanical analogue to study the behaviour of such a resonator and find that the model describes quite well the main features of udu acoustics.