[CAUT] Semantics

[Fred Sturm]

On May 9, 2009, at 3:46 PM, David Love wrote:

> However, why can't one say "the volume of sound produced
> formerly limited by the inconsequential mass of the vibrating string  
> alone
> is increased when the energy is transduced to the soundboard whose  
> greater
> mass and area allow for the greater movement of air".  Substitute the
> colloquial meaning of amplified for increased and I don't think the  
> physical
> world as we have come to know it will cease to exist or all soundboard
> science will be endangered.

	Yes, a "larger volume of sound" is produced by a vibrating string  
coupled to a soundboard than is produced by a string vibrating but not  
coupled to a soundboard. But I would ask you to read Del's posts  
carefully. It doesn't really matter that an uncoupled string makes  
sound. The driver of a speaker's membrane makes negligible sound. The  
sound is produced by the vibration of the speaker membrane. The  
speaker membrane isn't increasing the sound of the driver. It is  
producing sound in response to the driver's vibration (the driver's  
vibration causes the membrane to vibrate, which moves air molecules).  
This is very much analogous to what happens with a string and a  
soundboard assembly.
	This doesn't mean that someone who thinks that a soundboard makes a  
string sound louder is stupid. It does mean that someone who holds  
that opinion is ill-informed. It is a natural and even logical kind of  
misinformation, which is why it is so widely held. It doesn't help  
that advertising folks for piano manufacturers have been spreading the  
misinformation.
	In any case, it is important to understand the mechanics. And this  
ties back to the original topic, which had to do with the theory that  
string vibrations could be coupled, through accujust hitchpins, to the  
plate, and could make the plate vibrate/resonate in some way. If we  
want to try to see if the analogy between a stake driven into the  
earth, abraded by a hoe, and a string terminated on a vertical pin,  
driven into a hole in a mass of cast iron, has any validity, well, it  
helps to have some knowledge of the mechanics/physics involved, and to  
use words carefully in describing what happens.
	All the hurt feelings and notions of disrespect and anger are very  
much beside the point, and waste a lot of our collective time and  
energy. Let's lose those arguments, okay?
	
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu