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An Interference Paradox in Sound

Abstract

ONE of the commonest demonstrations of interference is that between two loud-speakers actuated by separate audio-frequency oscillators. When the two oscillators differ slightly in pitch, the audience perceives beats which form a complicated pattern of interferences in the room. At any point in the room there is a probability of ½ that the phase difference of waves coming from the two sources lies between π and 2π, consequently that the sound-level may be less than that due to one source alone, a fact that is readily demonstrated with a microphone.

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MOLES, A. An Interference Paradox in Sound. Nature 164, 487 (1949). https://doi.org/10.1038/164487a0

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