What makes two singers/instruments sound differently even if they are singing the same note i.e. the frequency

Question

There is perhaps only 2 parameters to a sound wave, frequency and volume. When I sing a note and another singer sings the same note, we are using the same frequency (assuming that both of us singing correctly) but we still "sound" different. Is there some small variations in the frequencies still? Or is there some other sound parameter that I am missing?

Answer 1

The parameter you missed is called "timbre." It's the sum total of the overtones that are present in any sound source and which makes it sound different from other sound sources. In the science of acoustics, all tones consist of a fundamental and the harmonics above it. Only a sine wave doesn't contain harmonics. All other sound sources vibrate at several other frequencies aside from the fundamental. If you play a middle C on the piano, you can faintly hear its first harmonic, which is also a C an octave above, then the second harmonic, which is the G above that, and a lot of other harmonics above that which make up what's called the harmonic series. Different musical instruments don't have the same harmonic series. And so with voices. That makes them sound different from each other. See the website below:

Answer 2

Its as a results of fact all of them have a similar frequency, like as an occasion the A above center C on the piano, additionally the A string on the violin the two vibrate at 440 hz, even nevertheless they tonally sound distinctive.