Science of Sound: How Sound Can Travel Around Corners (When Light Can't)

Ever heard someone talking before they walk into the room?

Or heard a football bounce around the corner before you can see the pitch?

Sound behaves in ways light simply can’t — and the science is brilliant.

Here’s the simple version:

Sound is a wave

And waves don’t just travel in straight lines.

When sound meets an obstacle — a wall, a doorway, a corner — it doesn’t stop. It bends.

This bending is called diffraction.

Low sounds bend the most

High-frequency sounds (like a whistle or a flute) have short wavelengths.

They travel in straight lines and don’t bend much — which is why you can often tell the direction they came from.

But low sounds (like drums, engines, or basslines)…

Their wavelengths are huge.

They bend easily, wrapping around corners and filling spaces like fog.

That’s why you can hear:

 – a bass drum round the corner of a school corridor

 – someone’s footsteps before they appear

 – the rumble of traffic long before you see the road

 – music bleeding from a room even when the door is almost shut

Architects and sound engineers use this all the time

Diffraction explains why:

 – playgrounds sound louder near walls

 – school corridors carry noise

 – stadium bass feels like it's coming from everywhere

 – sound “leaks” out of rooms even through tiny gaps

Musicians feel it too

 Low notes fill a space.

 High notes cut through it.

 Put them together and you get the magic of a balanced band.

Sound doesn’t just travel.

It explores.

🎶 𝗜’𝗺 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗻 𝗢’𝗡𝗲𝗶𝗹𝗹 — 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗞𝗶𝗱𝘀 𝗔𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗺𝘆

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