Representing Sound in Binary

• Analog signals


  Waves, data that is constantly changing and without defined ranges, naturally occurring signals like sound, light, pressure
• Digital data


  Data that forms discrete values that always fall within defined ranges, set values within these ranges
• Converting analog to digital

  1. Sampling the amplitude of the analog signal at regular time intervals

  2. Assigning a binary value to each reading
• Sampling


  Recording a signal at regular intervals
• Sampling frequency


  The number of samples obtained per second, measured in Hertz (per second)
• Increasing sampling frequency


  Improves quality of digitized sound wave, increases file size
• Sample size


  How many bits are available for each sample, also known as bit depth
• Bit rate


  Bits used per second, calculated as sampling frequency multiplied by sample size
• Higher bit rate


  Leads to more detailed/better quality audio, but larger file size
• File size = bit rate x time
• Sampling rate, sampling frequency, and sampling resolution are synonymous terms</b>