Hypertext Webster Gateway: "acoustics"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Acoustics \A*cous"tics\ (#; 277), n. [Names of sciences in -ics,
as, acoustics, mathematics, etc., are usually treated as
singular. See {-ics}.] (Physics.)
The science of sounds, teaching their nature, phenomena, and
laws.
Acoustics, then, or the science of sound, is a very
considerable branch of physics. --Sir J.
Herschel.
Note: The science is, by some writers, divided, into
diacoustics, which explains the properties of sounds
coming directly from the ear; and catacoustica, which
treats of reflected sounds or echoes.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
acoustics
n : the study of the physical properties of sound
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