Peer Review

Acoustics

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Mar 15, 2021 by Music

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

This is a free, online textbook from WikiBooks. According to the authors, "Acoustics (from Greek ακουστικός pronounced akoustikos meaning "of or for hearing, ready to hear") is the science that studies sound, in particular its production, transmission, and effects. Sound can often be considered as something pleasant; an example of this would be music. In that case a main application is room acoustics, since the purpose of room acoustical design and optimisation is to make a room sound as good as possible. But some noises can also be unpleasant and make people feel uncomfortable. In fact noise reduction is a major challenge, particularly within the transportation industry as people are becoming more and more demanding."

Type of Material:

Open Access Textbook through Wikibooks

Recommended Uses:

Best used as content source material for acoustics and/or physics courses that treat sound from a scientific standpoint
Individual homework assignments

Technical Requirements:

Graphical web browser, access to an online calculator for complex equations would be helpful, example site: https://www.symbolab.com/solver/complex-equation-calculator

Identify Major Learning Goals:

This material has multi disciplinary applications, including music. The content would have applications related to the sound characteristics of instruments as well as dynamics of performing spaces and factors related to music recording.

Target Student Population:

College Lower Division (Physics, Acoustics, Architecture, Physiology, Sound/Audio engineering, Music Technology)
College Upper Division (Physics, Acoustics, Architecture, Physiology, Sound/Audio engineering, Music Technology)
Professional

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

A basic knowledge of phyics would be helpful in fully utilizing the parts of the book addressing the sound characteristics of instruments. Intermediate to advanced math education would be helpful in understanding /using the more technical aspects of the book, specifically in understanding and using the equations in some of the chapters.

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: The web based format of the material is well suited to the subject, as it makes it easy to use in conjunction with complementary web materials. The instrument specific sections are particularly nice for music related uses.
Concerns:: A more comprehensive and systematic coverage of additional musical instruments, perhaps organized by type/mechanism of sound (strings, brass, percussion etc.) would be a great addition to the existing material

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

Again, the music specific examples and applications make this material useful for music classes.

Information provided is linked to other related concepts
Information is contextualized by topic
Information would support work in related assignments
Information could be used as a quick reference tool for previous learning

Concerns:

Learning objectives are not obvious
Linked information is not specifically sequential
Information could be linked to specific assignments, but might not be relatable without the context of the other sections within the resource

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:

Strengths:

The wiki based environment is familiar and well suited to the content. Printable and pdf versions are also availabe, which are nice options to have.

Content pages are related to specific topics and can be linked to related assignments
Each section is provided in context to its topic area(s)

Concerns:

when navigating the content, I had some minor difficulty in returning to the main page/table of contents without just clicking the browser back button to retrace steps.

Other Issues and Comments:

Suggest as supplemental resource material only
Learners who do not already understand the material would likely not be able to integrate the information without very specific guidance

Creative Commons: