During an exciting moment at a sporting event, why does the crowd sound like they are saying “ahh” in unison even though they are all reacting in a different way?

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During an exciting moment at a sporting event, why does the crowd sound like they are saying “ahh” in unison even though they are all reacting in a different way?

In: Physics

Anonymous 0 Comments

Well, most exciting events in general cause us humans to do some version of the “ahh” sound in celebration or excitement due to biological influences. But from a physics standpoint sound waves propagate through air in such a way that the function appears sinusoidal, also the inconsistencies in the medium (the air) coupled with the size of the stadium can distort even a single person’s voice. When thousands of people are yelling and the same effect is being had along with the fact that constructive and destructive interference are distorting each sound wave further the resulting sound that you hear sounds like a mix of various tones rather than anything understandable