Sympathetic Vibration & Resonance

I asked the guest musician on our radio program about the humming of my drum. He said it's called "sympathetic vibration".

Sympathetic Vibration definitions:

...a vibration produced in one body by the vibrations of exactly the same period in a neighboring body

the science of matter and energy and their interactions; "his favorite subject was physics"


The driving of a mechanical or acoustical system at its resonant frequency by energy from an adjacent system vibrating at this same frequency. Examples include the vibration of wall panels by sounds issuing from a loudspeaker, vibration of machinery components at specific frequencies as the speed of a motor increases, and the use of tuned air resonators under the bars of a xylophone to enhance the acoustic output. Increasing the damping of a vibrating system will decrease the amplitude of its sympathetic vibration but at the same time widen the band of frequencies over which it will partake of sympathetic vibration. See also Resonance (acoustics and mechanics); Vibration.

Resonance definition:

Noun: resonance re-zu-nun(t)s
An excited state of a stable particle causing a sharp maximum in the probability of absorption of electromagnetic radiation

A vibration of large amplitude produced by a relatively small vibration near the same frequency of vibration as the natural frequency of the resonating system

Having the character of a loud deep sound; the quality of being resonant
- plangency, reverberance, ringing, sonorousness, sonority, vibrancy

A relationship of mutual understanding or trust and agreement between people
- rapport

The quality imparted to voiced speech sounds by the action of the resonating chambers of the throat and mouth and nasal cavities