pure tone
1
5.8
- noun
- /pjʊr toʊn/
- Specialized
:
tono puro
- In the sound therapy session, they used a pure tone to help soothe the participants.
- pure tone audiogram
- pure tone audiometry
- pure tone thresholds
Examples
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The musician produced a beautiful pure tone that resonated in the quiet hall.
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There were no statistically significant differences in pure tone and discrimination scores between the two groups.
Academic text (1999) -
Always sing or play in a clear, pure tone exactly on pitch, without vibrato.
Academic text (1996) -
Such a model would be consistent with the results of pure-tone experiments, but it would be wrong.
Academic text (1999) -
The left panel includes the pure tone audiogram and comfort levels from the loudness test.
Academic text (1993) -
Measurement of auditory thresholds using pure tones was attempted at least once in each patient.
Academic text (1998) -
When properly calibrated, pure-tone stimuli are identical from one site to another.
Academic text (1993) -
Clinically, sensitivity is the basis of the threshold of the pure-tone audiogram.
Academic text (1998) -
Our preliminary observations indicate that this testing methodology can be used to construct a pure-tone audiogram.
Academic text (1995) -
All of the children had a corrected pure-tone average < 45 dB HL.
Academic text (2013)
How Pure
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'pure' (not mixed/contaminated) + 'tone' (a sound or pitch) yields the idea of a single, unmixed sound. This adjective+noun pattern is straightforward and cross-linguistically common in basic acoustic descriptions, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Pure tone comes from the idea of a very simple sound: pure means clean and tone means a sound, like a tuning fork giving one steady note with no extra sounds. So it means a sound of only one 'frequency' with no 'overtones'.