FoundationalConceptsNeuroscience

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Violin

ALIA IIS [I

Harmonica

NIWA SS ta a2 Ss fo dion,

Speech

Rattle

ANYWAY

Figure 15.6. Complex sinusoidal waveforms, showing air pressure variation as

a function of time, for several different sound sources.

Figure 15.8 shows a waveform associated with sound coming
from playing this instrument. Beneath it are several component
frequencies having varying amplitudes. These component frequen-
cies are generated by the different modes of vibration assumed by
the vibrating instrument and the air forced through the resonant
chamber associated with the instrument. In the case of the Jew’s harp,
the resonant chamber is the oral cavity of the player. These various
component frequencies add together to produce the complex wave-
form generated by playing the Jew’s harp.
It turns out that any complex waveform describing a vibration
can always be represented as a sum of sine waves having various