acoustics: The science of sound.
amusia: Commonly called tone-deafness, this is a brain disorder where people are unable to tell one note from another, to recognize tunes or to remember music they have heard before.
culture: (n. in social science) The sum total of typical behaviors and social practices of a related group of people (such as a tribe or nation). Their culture includes their beliefs, values and the symbols that they accept and/or use. Culture is passed on from generation to generation through learning. Scientists once thought culture to be exclusive to humans. Now they recognize some other animals show signs of culture as well, including dolphins and primates.
disorder: (in medicine) A condition where the body does not work appropriately, leading to what might be viewed as an illness. This term can sometimes be used interchangeably with disease.
element: A building block of some larger structure.
frequency: The number of times some periodic phenomenon occurs within a specified time interval. (In physics) The number of wavelengths that occurs over a particular interval of time.
harmony: Different musical notes or tones played at the same time.
hertz: The frequency with which something (such as a wavelength) occurs, measured in the number of times the cycle repeats during each second of time.
Mandarin: (in linguistics) Versions, or dialects, of Chinese, which are spoken in about four fifths of China. In all, an estimated 1.3 billion people inside and outside China speak this language. Also known as pǔtōnghuà, it has been around for roughly 900 years. It takes its name from the Portuguese and initially referred to an important Chinese official. This has been one of the most common languages in China since the 14th century.
pitch: (in acoustics) The word musicians use for sound frequency. It describes how high or low a sound is, which will be determined by the vibrations that created that sound.
population: (in biology) A group of individuals (belonging to the same species) that lives in a given area.
robot: A machine that can sense its environment, process information and respond with specific actions. Some robots can act without any human input, while others are guided by a human.
sound wave: A wave that transmits sound. Sound waves have alternating swaths of high and low pressure.
Stonehenge: A monument made of large stones, located on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England.
timbre: (in music) Pronounced TAM-bur, this term refers to the quality of sound made by the human voice or some other musical instrument. It’s distinct from pitch, intensity, and loudness and refers to how those attributes sound when performed by different instruments. Timbre is how you can know an oboe from a violin even if each had played the same note and just as loudly.
tonal language: in linguistics) A language, such as several spoken in China, that uses differences in tone to distinguish the meaning of words that would otherwise sound similar.
vibrate: To rhythmically shake or to move continuously and rapidly back and forth.
wave: A disturbance or variation that travels through space and matter in a regular, oscillating fashion.
Western: (n. the West) An adjectivedescribing nations in Western Europe and North America (from Mexico northward). These nations tend to be fairly industrialized and to share generally similar lifestyles; levels of economic development (incomes); and attitudes toward work, education, social issues and government.
wood: A porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees, shrubs and other woody plants.
