Barks, Ducks, and echoes

Daniel van Eijmeren dve at kabelfoon.nl
Tue Sep 9 10:51:41 CEST 2003


OLIVIER, 09-09-2003:

> Here's a link to an article on CNN about duck quacks-- do they echo or not?
> http://edition.cnn.com/2003/TECH/science/09/08/duck.quack/index.html
> However, there's something odd, which they would know about if  they (had) 
> read Barks' WDC&S 105 ten-pager (June '49): a duck's quack echoes only if
> said duck drops a dime in a box. ;)

I've pasted the text at the end of this email, because I'm curious if this 
urban myth may have *inspired* Barks to write the echoes practice story 
(WDC 105). 

Some time ago someone mentioned that the echoes practice story is in error 
because it doesn't contain any real echoes for Donald. This urban myth would 
be a perfect explanation for those missing echoes. And even though the myth
has been debunked, the article still mentions that it remains difficult to 
notice a duck's echo.

Maybe there's a chance that Barks has heard about this, too, and then got 
inspired in thinking of his own way to produce duck echoes?

Please let me know if this thought makes sense.

- - - - - - -

Science 'quacks' urban duck myth

<Picture: Daisy takes to the microphone>

LONDON, England -- A British study has debunked an urban myth -- that a
duck's quack does not echo. 

A farmyard duck called Daisy was at the center of the acoustic research,
carried out at the University of Salford in Greater Manchester, north-west
England. 

Acoustic expert Trevor Cox tested the popular myth -- often the subject of
television quiz shows and Internet chat rooms -- by first recording Daisy's
quack in a special chamber with jagged surfaces that produces no sound
reflections. 

She was then moved to a reverberation chamber with cathedral-like acoustics
before the data was used to create simulations of Daisy performing at the
Royal Albert Hall and quacking as she flew past a cliff face. 

The tests revealed that a duck's quack definitely echoes, just like any
other sound, but perhaps not as noticeably. 

"A duck quacks rather quietly, so the sound coming back is at a low level
and might not be heard," Cox told the UK Press Association. 

"Also, a quack is a fading sound. It has a gradual decay, so it's hard to
tell the difference between the actual quack and the echo. That's
especially true if you haven't previously heard what it sounds like with no
reflections." 

He said ducks were normally found in open-water areas and didn't usually
congregate around echoey cliffs, which may have fueled the theory that
their quacks don't produce an echo. 

"You get a bit of reverberation -- it's distinctly echoey," Cox said. 

The research was being discussed Monday at the British Association Festival
of Science at the University of Salford. 

- - - - - - -

Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2003/TECH/science/09/08/duck.quack/index.html

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--- Daniël


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