[04] Speed of Sound
2025 - 2026 Fall
Massachusetts Institute of Technology - 2.132 MICA Projects
Speed of Sound is a measurement experiment that is conducted with a workstation composed of a MEMS Microphone, a speaker, and a Digilent measurement device. The speaker is initiated through the Digilent device to produce a sound output, which is received by the microphone. The experiment aimed to measure the relationship between the delay of the acoustic pulse response (the reception of the microphone) and the distance between the microphone and the speaker.
The experiment results have shown that delay increases with the distance between components, leveraging the span traveled through “air” or attenuation as a source of delay.
The speed of sound workstation, also known as an “air-delay instrument,” showcased a well-known physical phenomenon, and measuring it with the right tools gave us empirical data. What do we do with this? How do we understand and use physical phenomena as a design tool? Can physical phenomena shape the way we build and understand physical and digital environments, materials, and spaces?
speed of sound measurement instrument
creating impulse
acoustic pulse responses at different distances (cm (y) x amplitude (V) to time(x))
acoustic pulse responses of different distances juxtaposed!
the juxtaposition shows us attenuation in amplitude and delay in the response time
let’s look at it differently!
Now? What do we do with this? How do we understand and use physical phenomena as a design tool? Can physical phenomena shape the way we build and understand physical and digital environments, materials, and spaces?
This parametric measurement can be understood in the way it initiates a design, in this case, a 2d digital piece. The idea is to start a discussion: can we produce sound impulses to design an artifact?
design mapping matrix
input parameters + data
different outputs
!live play!