How do speakers produce multiple sounds at the same time.

Question

I have never really fully understood how a speaker vibrating air molecules which then in turn vibrate the membrane in your ear works. How can a speaker make multiple sounds at the exact same time if its based on movement of a physical object?

In: Physics

Answer 1

Any combination of sounds can be represented as a single waveform. The more sounds you add together, the more complex and “squiggly” the waveform becomes, but it is still a single waveform. The speakers are simply producing those complex waveforms.