Question

Quality of sound primarily depends upon:
A) Intensity
B) Frequency
C) Shape of the source
D) Wave form

Answer 1

The quality of sound can be considered to be a measure of the richness of sound. Most sounds from musical instruments are very rich in the sense that they have a lot of harmonic components in the sound wave. The quality of the sound produced by an instrument is often related to the quality of the instrument.

Complete step by step answer:
Sound waves can be simple or complex. A simple sound wave can be considered to be a simple sine wave produced by a vibrating tuning fork. However, most sounds have a lot of other components apart from the main wave with a fundamental frequency. These complex sound waves consist of many other harmonic frequencies or overtones which are the multiples of the fundamental frequency and are present in a smaller intensity in the wave than the fundamental frequency.
The overlapping of all these harmonics and overtones forms a complex sound wave. The number of such overtones and harmonics, their relative frequencies and intensities as compared to the fundamental frequency play a role in determining the quality or richness of the sound.
Therefore, in essence, it can be said that the quality of sound primarily depends upon the waveform of the sound.

Therefore, the correct option is D) Wave form.

Note:
Students might think that the shape of the source is responsible for the quality of sound since, they might think that differently shaped instruments produce different sounds. However, they must understand that the shape of the source has got nothing to do with the quality. To understand this they can think of an example. When new strings are put on a guitar, the quality of the sound instantly changes, though the shape of the instrument remains the same. The new strings produce a different waveform that varies in quality than what was produced by the old strings.