Topic Five (1.5): Sound and Arithmetic Shifts

Topics Icon.png Objectives for this topic

By the end of this topic you should be able to:

  • describe how computers sample and store sound.

You might also be able to:

  • describe and perform arithmetic shifts in binary numbers.

Introduction Icon.png Introduction

Sound data is more complicated to deal with than numbers or text because it is not easily converted from its raw state into digital 0s and 1s. Unlike with text the decisions you make can have a huge impact on the size of the file and the quality of the resulting sound; an uncompressed sound file can easily take 10 megabytes per minute of sound. While this might not seem much for your computer, if the sound is transmitted over the Internet in real-time or stored on an IoT device, this is considered a huge amount of storage space.

Interact Icon.png Working through your coursebook

Read pages 31-33 in your Computing Stage 8 book.

  • Make sure you understand the learning points. Can you see the difference between analogue and digital data?
  • Make sure that you understand the key words described on page 31. Add them to your cram.com Links to an external site. flashcards.
  • Complete the practice task on page 32. Which do you recommend?
  • Complete the Go Further task on page 33.

Read pages 34-35 in your Computing Stage 8 book.

  • Complete the Challenge Yourself task. What do you think would happen if you shifted right rather than left?

Review Icon.png Review

Reflect upon the four pages you have just covered. In your notes summarise:

  • what you have learnt;
  • what you already knew;
  • what surprised you;
  • what you are curious to know more about.

Bridge Icon.png  Support activity for this topic

This video has a handy explanation of these audio terms:

Stretch Icon.png Extension activity for this topic

Want to understand the link between bit depth and dynamic range. Watch this video to tell you more: