Frequency & Amplitude

Last week, we learned about the sound sensor on the NXT and how to set thresholds and we also did an investigation about whether the NXT picks up frequency, amplitude, or both. In the first investigation, we learned that to find the threshold to use in a program, you must take the minimum sound value the sound sensor reads on the nxt, add the maximum value the sound sensor reads and divide by two. You are in essence taking the average of the two values. In the next investigation, we looked at the sensors response to frequency and its response to amplitude. Frequency is the pitch the sound is and amplitude is the volume. In the end, we found that amplitude is much more reliable in getting a reading. Also, as the amplitude increases, the value on the sound sensor increases. For frequency, the values were all over the place which was not much help in a program. In conclusion, frequency is not a good thing to measure using the NXT sound sensor.