why are sounds heard more clearly at nights?

Question

I've read in a book that sounds are heard more clearly at nights and it was because of total internal reflection of waves going up.But I think the explanation is wrong because sound travels faster in denser medium than in rarerr medium.Please explain.

Answer 1

I think for msot of us the reason would be because there is less noise at night. Much less business sounds, less traffic and etc. So you are able to hear better without all the background sounds.

Answer 2

Ask the blind man.

During the day, heat creates convection waves in the air which interfere with the propagation of the sound, and disrupts the pressure wave which our ears detect as sound.

As the pressure wave is disrupted, the information we "hear" from it is disrupted. Voices or music becomes distorted, the distinct nature of the waves is disrupted the farther it goes, until at some point, it is not detected over the background noise.

During the night the cooler air clams down. It disrupts the waves less.

It's probably better to say sound travels farther at night, not it's clearer, or easier to hear. (But that would not be technically correct either--it would be more accurate to say, "sound usually travels farther at night before it is disrupted to the condition that the human ear can not detect it")

But on a clam day, sound will travel farther than a windy night.

It's all in the words you pick.

Answer 3

Now I could be wrong but at night the birds are nesting there's less traffic out late at night no one is outside in their yards working or children aren't playing, places of work are closed( the majority of them)..so everyone is in side so there's nothing much going on so in the quietness if something makes a sound it could be heard louder than during the day with everyone and everything out and about to drown out the sound of certain things..Right !!

Answer 4

Two reasons:
1. At night the air is usually colder, therefore denser, so sounds travel faster in it and there's less "loss".
2. There are fewer other sounds which can blanket a particular one you're interested in.

Answer 5

I think thats a fact because i live near the airport and all the aircraft sounds i hardly hear in the daytime i hear them at late dusk or at earlly dawn.

Interesting...

Answer 6

I couldn't give you a technical explanation(if there is one), but in my opinion, it is only because there is less competing noise at night, so any noise stands out from the relative silence by comparison.

Answer 7

I think it is because it is quieter at nite so that when you do hear something, it is loader than what you would here in the noisy day time.

Answer 8

Sorry I don't know the answer but I can't wait to see the answers. It just seems logical to me. Oh and I hope someone knowledgeable has your answer.

Answer 9

Hi. Nights tend to be cooler and quieter.

Answer 10

Because of less sound pollution by motorbikes, etc.