When out and about in public, how do sounds not cancel each other out?

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I get constructive and deconstructive, but those are usually in the context of being the same frequency and just being out of phase. I’m talking like…you and your bud having a conversation in a restaurant, with music playing, convos around you, sound of wait staff, etc. If a waiter drops a plate, how does that sound transit through at that higher, unique frequency through all the other noise so that all can hear it?

Thank you for your time!

In: Physics

24 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Sound waves would have to be perfectly the same and exactly 90 degrees out of phase in order for sounds to perfectly cancel each other out.

A plate crashing to the floor is not a pure sine wave, rather it’s an infinite amount of different frequencies. Some of those will get partially cancelled, others will be amplified but overall you won’t notice it.

In practice two sound sources will never noticeably interfere with each other but rather the same source will interfere with itself by means of reflection out of obstacles such as walls

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