The University of Aizu - The Graduate School (Curriculum) - The Academic Calendar

ITC02A: Intro. to Sound & Audio; 音と音声入門
(formerly #129: “Acoustic Modeling” and “Audio Interfaces”)

Quarter; 期 1st
Time; 時 Tuesdays & Fridays 1 & 2: 9:00 - 10:40
Meeting Places; 場所
Lecture
M11 [3rd floor of Research Quadrangle, at the end of the red yellow or cream gray blue wing; nearest Chuo Hospital and Bandai-san, a.k.a. Room 364]
Lab Exercise
Std6 (Computer Exercise Room 6 [Room 106], Research Quadrangle)

Instructor; 担当者
Michael Cohen 公園 マイケル Computer Arts Lab.
327-A		 x3108 mcohen

Syllabus in Course Catalog
Description; 授業内容
It is important to exploit sound as a full partner in computer-human interfaces, and developing this potential motivates exploring analogs to visual modes of expression and also developing expressive models unique to audio. This course simultaneously explores issues in sound as well as tools available to manipulate audio. During the COVID-19 crisis, lectures are presented online (“distance learning”), using Zoom to conduct distributed classes.
Course Themes; 日程及びテーマ
We survey the physics and nature of sound waves and audio, considered from the perspective of frequency, intensity, and time. Topics include compression & rarefaction, propagation, transmission, diffusion, diffraction, refraction, spreading loss, absorption, boundary effects, non-point sources, reflection, reverberation, superposition, beats & standing waves), description and representation of sound (analog/digital, complex analysis, waveforms, pulse code modulation, Fourier analysis); measurements of sound and audio (sampling, aliasing, decibels, pressure, power, intensity, level, loudness); synthesis (additive, AM, FM, envelopes, filtering, equalizers, spatialization, distortion); psychophysics (loudness, masking, critical bands), coding and compression (SNR, A-law, u-law, MP3, AAC, parametric stereo), display and multichannel (“discrete”) systems (transducers, 5.1, speaker arrays, WFS), tuning, and user interfaces (conferencing, virtual concerts, mixed and virtual reality).
Course Objectives; 目的
The university's exercise rooms feature multimedia workstations, at which students can work individually or in teams to explore concepts regarding sound and audio. Demonstration-rich formal lectures interleaved with laboratory sessions provide a rigorous, theoretical background as well as practical experience regarding basic audio operations. Interactive exercises, based on workstations and tablets, provide realtime "hands-on" multimedia educational opportunities that are stimulating and creative, as students enjoy intuitive, experiential learning. Utilized resources include audio synthesis and multimedia data-flow visual programming (Pure Data, [Japanese language site]), audio editing and analysis software (Audacity [Japanese language site]), interactive physics visualization and auralization physics applets (illustrating wave behavior, DSP, filtering, etc.), advanced computational and plotting utilities (Mathematica [Japanese language site]), and effects processing (GarageBand [Japanese language site]). This course is intended to be useful to audio engineers and researchers, as well as musicians. In other words, this course is about theory, simulation and practice: playing with sound, learning by doing, and about saying (instead of “see you”) “hear you!” Students who complete this course will be empowered with basic knowledge of sound and audio and the confidence to apply those principals to generally encountered situations in sound and audio engineering.
Schedule
  1. Overview: Course organization, assessment, tablets & courseware, hearing anatomy and physiology, analog vs. digital
  2. Hearing: auditory pathway, pinna, psychoacoustics & perception
  3. Waves: waveforms, phase, complex numbers, logarithms, FFT & Spectrogram
  4. Waves: pressure (compression & rarefaction), propagation, transmission, diffusion, diffraction, refraction, spreading loss
  5. Waves: absorption, boundary effects, non-point sources, reflection, reverberation, superposition, beats & standing waves
  6. Frequency: tone, register, harmony
  7. Harmonic content: harmonics, overtones, Fourier analysis, sampling theorem, aliasing, AM & FM
  8. Musical Frequency: tone, semi-tone, pitch, octaves, scales
  9. Intensity: volume, loudness, PCM
  10. Intensity: pressure, power, envelope, RMS, decibels, level, masking
  11. Multichannel: stereo, speaker arrays, spatialization
  12. Applications; coding & compression, digital recording and audio editing, filtering, equalizers, speech synthesis
  13. Time: duration, tempo, repetition, reversal, duty cycle, rhythm & cadence
  14. Music: DTM composition, audio effects
Evaluation (assessment): 評価方法
Homework problem sets (25%), lab exercises (25%), midterm exam (25%) and final exam (25%).
Facilities; 使用場所
Exercize Room iMacs (digital audio workstations)
Learning Management System
Moodle
Materials and Texts; 教科書
Supplemental Equipment; 補充装置
iPad tablet (lent to each student) for courseware, homework, and in-class, hands-on demonstrations; iPadをコースウェアー、宿題、および授業でのデモンストレーションに使う
Supplemental Material
Prerequisites; 必修科目
Basic math and physics; 数学、物理. (No specialized knowledge is assumed.)
Note: This course is a prerequisite for ITA10: “Spatial Hearing and Virtual 3-D Sound”
注: ITA10: 空間聴覚とバーチャル３Ｄサウンドの講義を受ける為の必修クラスです。
Supplemental links; 参考（授業ホームページ、図書など）
Class Schedule (First Quarter)
Assignments
Lecture notes (on-campus only)
For more information about this page, please contact Michael Cohen.