Learn · 101
Track 03 · Advanced Vibration & CM

Acoustics & Noise 101

Sound is just vibration you can hear — let's learn to read it.

12 lessons Self-paced 25-question exam Badge: Advanced Vibration & CM
Releasing 16 Aug 2026 Back to catalog

Releasing 16 Aug 2026 — the lesson opens on release day.

What you'll leave knowing

Outcomes for this primer.

Short, interactive and self-paced. Every idea is shown with a live instrument, then checked in the exam.

See sound as vibration in air — pressure, frequency and wavelength.

Read the decibel scale and why we use A-weighting / dB(A).

Split noise into octave and third-octave bands.

Separate sound power vs pressure, and quieten source → path → receiver.

The curriculum

12 lessons, in order.

Each lesson is one focused screen — a concept, an interactive graphic, and a plain-language read. Climb the chain, then sit the exam.

01
A quick re-anchor · waveform, amplitude, frequency, spectrum, peak, the Fourier transform (FFT)
Time waveform vs spectrum — the same tools we'll now point at sound.
02
The big idea
Sound is a pressure wave — air squeezed and stretched, travelling.
03
How fast it wiggles
Frequency sets the pitch; wavelength is how long one wave is.
04
How big it wiggles · peak & RMS
Amplitude is the size of the pressure swing — and that means loudness.
05
The scale everyone uses
The decibel: a log ladder because our ears span a million to one.
06
The instrument
The microphone and the sound-level meter.
07
Weighting for the ear
A-weighting: bend the scale to hear like a human — that's dB(A).
08
Splitting noise by pitch
Octave & third-octave bands — why we pool lines into fat bands.
09
A vital distinction
Sound power vs sound pressure — the source vs what you hear.
10
Where machine noise comes from · orders · blade-pass · gear-mesh · harmonics
A vibrating surface radiates sound — the same tones you see in vibration.
11
The strategy
Quieten it in order: source, then path, then receiver.
12
The whole picture
Acoustics in one table — every idea, in order.
Finish all 12 lessons and pass the 25-question exam to earn your completion certificate — issued on the spot.
Where it fits

Part of the Advanced Vibration & CM badge.

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A primer — not ISO 18436 certification

TIERA 101 gives you working fundamentals. It is not equivalent to, nor a substitute for, ISO 18436 Category I–IV vibration-analyst certification.

TIERA's formal ISO 18436 Category I–IV programme is separate and paid. Ask us about the certified track when you're ready to go pro.