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This is something I noticed as a kid. We had a creek in our backyard, which,depending on the temperature the water would be louder or quieter. This annoyed our
by Tanoc 2y ago
This is something I noticed as a kid. We had a creek in our backyard, which,depending on the temperature the water would be louder or quieter. This annoyed our dog, which after a number of times caused me to notice. Running water is louder and much more sharp when it's cold out, and quieter and muffled when it's hot out. In the same way sounds are louder in a colder environment because there's already a low level of ambient energy contained in the air and so the energy disperses much more readily but dissipates much more quickly. Essentially a difference between a quick "crack" and a lingering "whump" in terms of auditory impact. This effect also propagates to solid materials, as cold metals and ceramics transmit sound better than warm ceramics or metals. A church bell quite literally is louder on a cold winter's day.
- golergka 2y agoI wonder how well it maps to notions of a “cold reverb” or “warm synth” in music production.
- axxl 2y agoMy thought on the general "loudness" of cold months was due to reduced noise blocking or absorbing greenery like tree leaves, grass, etc. Which is then altered by a significant snowfall leading to sounds being softened again.
- ffsm8 2y agoShouldn't that be an inverse relationship though? Without leaves on the trees you should get less reflection, consequently more of the noise should radiate upwards. Unless you're standing at the other side of a bush/greenery. In that case it definitely absorbs a lot
- CrazyStat 2y agoLots of small unaligned surfaces, like leaves, scatter the sound and make it interfere with itself. Reflection only makes the sound louder if you have large smooth flatish surfaces.
- Modified3019 2y agoAh, I had never considered the interference aspect of sound reflections
- CoastalCoder 2y agoI want to make a joke about the "three leaf" problem in acoustics, but I can't find a way to make it funny. Dang.
- tomrod 2y agoYou made me chuckle. Mission accomplished.
- kylebenzle 2y agoHN is becoming worse and worse everyday :(
- CoastalCoder 2y agoAssuming your comment is serious (rather than some quip), I think what we're seeing is differing visions for HN. One group (me included) enjoys some levity, as long as it's high quality and doesn't get in the way of substantial discussions. Another group would prefer that HN avoids that entirely. It mostly seems like a matter of taste / preference, so I'm not sure how we can come to one kind on this, shy of seeing the pro-humour approach clearly hurting the site.
- batch12 2y agoUsually I see high quality humor make it through. The low-effort Reddit quips get cratered.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- xattt 2y agoThe volume of water flow should/would also vary at different times of the year, based on how much the water table is loaded. Not sure how much of this would be complimentary to the acoustic effect of temperature. Either way, it’s not a simple single-solution explanation.
- BurningFrog 2y agoMy guess is that frozen terrain is harder, which reflects more sound and makes hitting it noisier.
- xerox13ster 2y agoCold air is also more dense, less momentous, and can transfer sound energy more efficiently between particles than hot air where the particles are spread out and have their own momentum to maintain rather than the sound's.
- soulofmischief 2y agoNo one here has mentioned temperature inversion [0] which is responsible for a lot of the cold-induced amplification perceived in urban areas. It's quite a fascinating effect. [0] https://wisconsindot.gov/Documents/doing-bus/eng-consultants/cnslt-rsrces/environment/trafficnoiseweather.pdf https://wisconsindot.gov/Documents/doing-bus/eng-consultants...
- quesera 2y agoCould the audible difference be related to varying sound propagation through hot/humid vs cold/dry air?
- ajkjk 2y agoI think it's this. Sounds are very different based on the temperature and humidity of air. I have a piano at home and the difference is huge and very apparent over time.
- CoastalCoder 2y agoDoes your piano have a wooden body and sound board? I'm sure piano techs are all over this topic, but (as a layman) I could imagine the wood's water content being quite relevant.
- bruce343434 2y agoPiano soundboards are almost always wood. There are a handful of companies that offer carbon fiber soundboards but they are very rare and expensive. As the soundboard gains moisture, it swells and buckles as it has nowhere to go, which makes it louder and also raises the pitch a bit as the strings are pushed a bit. When it gets drier, it goes flat (structurally and musically). If it has been too moist, the wood cells will be compacted and crushed. If it is then dried, it will form cracks as the wooden structure rips itself apart when shrinking again. A piano soundboard that has been built and kept in a desert for instance will not crack. But if you take a piano from a ~55% humid country and put it in a desert (or overly air-conditioned room! or right in front of a heat radiator!) it will die.
- CoastalCoder 2y agoDoes a swollen soundboard noticeably affect pitch even when the piano has a cast-metal harp? The one harp I've seen up close was in an upright piano I disassembled, and that harp was solid.
- nico 2y agoThank you for the great anecdote and explanation, it was fun an very illustrative to visualize the concepts while reading your comment
- morninglight 2y agoThe video is also excellent. https://youtu.be/9w3Zl3KBDpI https://youtu.be/9w3Zl3KBDpI
- nico 2y agoThe intro was hilarious! Thank you :)
- wolverine876 2y agoYou controlled for the volume / depth of water, which for the same mass would be greater when warmer, and the resulting changed interaction with objects ...?
- Loughla 2y agoThere is nothing like a small waterfall in a deep snow on a snowy day. All other sound is muffled by the snow cover and further dampened by the falling snow. But the creek will ring like a bell. You can't hear it until you're almost on top of it. It's higher pitched, and will almost always have a tempo based on the shape of the bed of the falls. There's a waterfall on our farm. It plays music in January. It's amazing, and no one believes me.
- dynisor 2y agoNext January you should get an audio or video recording. I'd love to hear that!
- wjnc 2y agoI would presume this is like capturing rainbows or beautiful skies by photo. Harder than it seems. You can’t capture the dampening effect of the environment by (regular?) microphone.
- iwontberude 2y agoWhen I used to bake bread commercially early in the morning, the sound of the HVAC, proofing and baking systems would sound like music to me in concert. I can't tell if I was just hallucinating or what, but something about your experience reminded me of it.