My friend and I were talking about power requirements in loudspeaker design and the fact that almost all of the power is required to drive the woofers and move lots of air.
Then he asked “do basses exert more energy talking or singing than sopranos?”
Or put another way, does a lower frequency voice need more power (energy) to achieve the same volume as a high voice?
OK then let me ask this: Why do bass notes (and more to the point, woofers) require so much more power for a given volume? Is it just the increased moving mass of the speaker and air?
If that’s the case, then I suspect that @SheeEttin@lemmy.zip has got the right answer:
But I’m not sure. Yet.
To go into human voices more the vocal folds within the larynx are the primary method of human pitch control. Air moving over the vocal folds vibrates them resulting in sound. Control of vocal fold tightness or loosening by associated muscle is how we alter our pitch. Generally male vocal folds are longer, for lower pitch, while female vocal folds are shorter, for higher pitch (post-puberty hormones). Males also have larger lung capacity than females generally.
The main method of altering loudness is by forcing more air through the vocal folds, creating a larger amplitude vibration.
Diaphragms are not pushing air at constant pressure unless you’re holding a note.
As I noted earlier bass is perceived as quieter at same amplitude due to how our ears are shaped and work, however, bass also travels farther it is able to be heard farther away with less dissipation because longer waves are less likely to “run into” other stuff.
The nose, pharynx, and mouth also act as resonators and articulation that further alter human sound.
For the engineering yeah it is probably just about moving more air, and more air has to be moved because it is a longer wave that needs to be created.