After successful completion of the course, students are able to understand basic concepts and methods in acoustics and to use these methods to calculate the propagation of sound based on the solution of the Helmholtz/wave equation.

Acoustics is concerned with the generation, propagation and perception of sound and combines research from different scientific disciplines like theoretical and applied mathematics, physics, mechanics, biology, psychology and many more. In the course we want to give an overview over some methods and models applied in acoustics. We will give an overview of the theoretical background as well as applications of these models. The course includes an introduction into basic concepts of acoustics, time frequency analysis of signals and numerical methods to solve the Helmholtz equation. These methods can be used to model and calculate for example the resonances of the human vocal tract, the efficiency on noise barriers or filter functions based on the geometry of the human ear (pinna) that are important for 3D audio.

Lecture using black board and beamer presentations to illustrate examples, plus sound examples for easier understanding some acoustic effects.

Oral exam

Basic knowledge of linear algebra and analysis