Tag: 002

3D II WK 3 – Research: SOUND

UNDERSTANDING SOUND

produced by continuous and regular vibrations, as opposed to noise.

vibrations that travel through the air or another medium and can be heard when they reach a person’s or animal’s ear.

 

How do Humans Hear & Feel

How Hearing Works?

To hear sound, the ear has to do three basic things:

  • Direct the sound waves into the hearing part of the ear
  • Sense the fluctuations in air pressure
  • Translate these fluctuations into an electrical signal that the brain can understand

hearing-2

 

The pinna, the outer part of the ear, serves to “catch” the sound waves. Human outer ear is pointed forward and it has a number of curves. The structure of the ear helps us determine the direction of the sound.

 

hearing-1

The eardrum is the entire sensory element in the human ear.

Once the sound waves travel into the ear canal, they vibrate the tympanic membrane, commonly called the eardrum.

The eardrum is rigid, and very sensitive. Even the slightest air-pressure fluctuations will move it back and forth. It is attached to the tensor tympani muscle, which constantly pulls it inward. This keeps the entire membrane taut so it will vibrate no matter which part of it is hit by a sound wave.

The compressions and rarefactions of sound waves push the drum back and forth. Higher-pitch sound waves move the drum more rapidly, and louder sound moves the drum a greater distance.

 

 

Interesting finds

Human pinnae are not so adept at focusing on sound.
They lay fairly flat against the head and don’t have the necessary muscles for significant movement.
But you can easily supplement your natural pinnae by cupping your hands behind your ears.
By doing this, you create a larger surface area that can capture sound waves better.

 

Information adapted from:
http://health.howstuffworks.com/mental-health/human-nature/perception/hearing1.htm

 

Did you know we can feel sound?

A new study shows that the skin could help us hear by ‘feeling’ sounds.The act of hearing is a group effort for the human body’s organs, involving the ears, the eyes and also, the skin.

In 1976, scientists discovered the importance of the eyes to our sense of hearing by demonstrating that the eyes could fool the ears in a peculiar phenomenon named the McGurk effect. When participants watched a video in which a person was saying “ga” but the audio was playing “ba,” people thought they heard a completely different sound—”da.” Now, by mixing audio with the tactile sense of airflow, researchers have found that our perception of certain sounds relies, in part, on being able to feel these sounds.

 

Interesting finds

The feel of sounds could be exploited in devices for groups such as the hearing impaired.
This additional tactile stimulus could help the person wearing the device perceive sounds. A similar concept could aid pilots in their noisy work environments.

 

Information adapted from:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/skin-hearing-airflow-puff-sound-perception/

 

 

 

FROG vs HUMAN

With respect to sense of hearing

A frog’s ear drum, just like a human’s ear drum, is a membrane that is stretched across a ring of cartilage like a snare drum that vibrates.

The frog’s tympanum (an external hearing structure) is found behind its eyes. Not used to hear, but to transmit sound waves to the inner ear. This structure helps protect the frog underwater.

 

 

north-american-bullfrog1

Male N. American bullfrog, with large tympanum or eardrum. (Photo: Wiki Commons).

 

Information adapted from:
http://infinitespider.com/frogs-make-sound-hear/

 

P.S. For the previous submission, short video and graphs have been put up pls go check it out cool

 

PROJ 002 – Curvilinear Volumes [Sketch Models]

In Project 002, we would have to open up our ‘designer eyes’ a little more and to take note of diagonal axes and curved surfaces apart from just recognising D, SD and SO. In a short span of 2 weeks, we are to create a composition using 3 different volumes of varying sizes: cones, spheres and cylinders 🙂

 

2D SKETCH ANALYSIS

 

3D Sketch Model #1    [Over The Top]

IMG_2241

2D sketch analysis of sketch model #1 – SM 1

SM 1 helps me to see that the axes of the volumes are diagonal and non-clashing (no parallel/perpendicular axes).

Length of SD is 2/3 of D, length of SO is 1/3 of SD.
Diameter of SD is less than 1/3 of D, diameter of SO is about 1/3 of SD.

 

Proportions are okay, so I proceeded with my model to produce this final model!

IMG_2317

IMG_2321

 

3D Sketch Model #2    [Coney Island]

IMG_2242

2D sketch analysis of sketch model #2 – SM 2

SM 2 shows that the SD was slightly too long in its length and diameter, as it was almost similar to those of the (the cone). From the analysis, I edited my thin cylindrical plate (SD) smaller in diameter,  for its length to be 2/3 of D, and also to adjust the angle in which the D pierces through SD.
The SO was originally too small instead, and the SD could block viewers from seeing the SO at certain angles. Therefore, I changed the SO to be just slightly larger.

 

After amendments, this is the second sketch model derived from the sketch and edits:

IMG_2325

IMG_2326

 

3D Sketch Model #3    [Ice-cream Man]

IMG_2243

2D sketch analysis of sketch model #3 – SM 3

SM 3 shows the arrangement of the axes of the 3 volumes.
I initially decided the cone to be the and then the sphere to be SD, followed by the cylinder to be the SO. Yet upon looking at the arrangement from the 2D analysis, it looks really plain and common and lacks an interesting point to the composition. Also, the length of the cone is close to that of the sphere.

Hence, I decided to switch the roles of the volumes to: sphere as D, cone as SD and cylinder as SO. The shapes were plainly stacked up in the original arrangement, so I also made a change to pierce the SO through the SD to give the final look like this.

 

IMG_2329

IMG_2331

 

In Conclusion
I picked Sketch Model #1 [Over The Top] as my final workpiece to apply textures and plausible functions to it. Details are presented in the PDF document uploaded to google docs 🙂