Longitudinal wave and seismic P-waves (created by earthquakes and explosions). In longitudinal waves, the displacement of the medium is parallel to the propagation of the wave, and waves can be either straight or round. A wave along the length of a stretched Slinky toy, where the distance between coils increases and decreases, is a good visualization. In the case of longitudinal harmonic sound waves, the frequency and wavelength can be described by the formula where: The quantity "x"/"c" is the time that the wave takes to travel the distance "x". The ordinary frequency ("f") of the wave is given by The wavelength
Critical distance Critical distance Critical distance is, in acoustics, the distance at which the sound pressure level of the direct sound D and the reverberant sound R are equal when dealing with a directional source. In other words, it is the point in space at which the combined amplitude of all the reflected echoes are the same as the amplitude of the sound coming directly from the source (D = R). This distance, called the critical distance formula_1, is dependent on the geometry and absorption of the space in which the sound waves propagate, as well as the dimensions and shape of