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?
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In: Physics
Imagine standing at the edge of a large lake. Most likely, the surface of the lake is wavy. There might be some larger rolling waves from the wake of a power boat going by, and maybe some smaller crests sort of overlayed on top of those waves caused by surface currents or other water movement, and maybe small ripples texturing the surface of all that caused by the breeze.
If you threw a rock into the lake, you’d still be able to recognize a distinctive ripple pattern emanating from where the rock landed, even though those ripples would be overlayed (aka *interfering*) with all those other waves on the surface of the lake. The same way you can visually pick out that circular ripple pattern, your ears can distinguish the sound of that plate shattering through many other interfering sounds.
Edit: Also important to remember – when it comes to constructive vs destructive interference, it might be intuitive to think that sounds should “cancel” each other out to create quietness. But remember, *any* sound wave, no matter what that wave is shaped like, or how many waves are combining to create it, sounds like *something*. The only thing that sounds quiet is *no* sound wave. And the only way to get no sound wave is to either have no sound, or to have two sound waves that *exactly and perfectly* cancel each other out. With sophisticated computer chips in noise canceling headphones, we can sort of manage this. In any natural environment, it’s the odds are essentially impossible.
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