The science of acoustics deals with the creation of sound, sound transmission through solids, and the effects of sound on both inert and living materials. As a mechanical effect, sound is essentially the passage of pressure fluctuations through matter as the result of vibrational forces acting on that medium. Sound possesses the attributes of wave phenomena, as do light and radio signals. But unlike its electromagnetic counterparts, sound cannot travel through a vacuum. In Sylva Sylvarum written in the early seventeenth century, Sir Francis Bacon deemed sound to be “one of the subtlest pieces of nature,” but he complained, “the nature of sound in general hath been superficially.
