Sound on an oscilloscope

In this activity, students play different kinds of sounds near a computer’s microphone and watch the resulting visual display created by oscilloscope software.

By the end of this activity, students should be able to:

• relate the visual display to each sound played

• appreciate the complexity of amplitudes and frequencies within real sounds.

Download the Word file (see link below) for:

• introduction/background notes

• instructions on what you need and what to do

• discussion questions

• extension ideas.