Acoustics is the scientific study of sound, including its production, transmission and effects. It covers a wide range of phenomena related to infrasound (frequencies below the human hearing range), audible sound, and ultrasound (frequencies above the human hearing range). It studies the passage of sound waves through various types of solid, liquid and gaseous materials along with the reception of those waves and their interactions with and effects on the various materials and environments.
Acoustics has numerous applications in various fields, including music, architecture, engineering, medicine, psychology and environmental studies. Musical acoustics is a specialized branch of acoustics that studies the physics of musical instruments and how they produce sound in order to improve their design and performance as well as to optimize digital synthesis of such sounds. It also deals with the psychoacoustics of music perception, including how the brain processes sounds.
Audio engineering is a sub-branch of musical acoustics that deals with optimizing musical instruments, sounds, and the spaces in which music is performed and recorded. It includes microphone design and placement to capture instrument sounds accurately, speaker design and room acoustics for faithful sound reproduction, audio signal processing techniques (such as equalization, compression and reverb) based on acoustic modeling, noise reduction and acoustic echo cancellation.
Architectural acoustics is a sub-branch of musical acoustics that focuses on optimizing performance venues and recording studios for the best possible sound quality. This includes the designing concert halls, opera houses, and recording studios with optimal reverberation, echo, and sound diffusion characteristics for different musical genres.