This paper reviews four software packages that are available on the Internet for free and can be used to enhance many physics labs that involve sound. In addition, two in-class projects are described in which high school physics teachers have used these software packages. Details of these four software packages are compared in Table I. The software packages reviewed are:
The website seventhstring.com has the following software packages:
The Tuning Fork utility will generate frequencies associated with musical notes between (about 65 Hz) and (about 2093 Hz). The Tuner utility will display a numerical value for a dominant frequency and the associated musical note that has been input via a microphone.
Figure 1 is from the display of the Tuning Fork set for 523.25 Hz (that is ). Figure 2 is from the display of Tuner reading—with an input of the
