Sound - Word Drop

Analogue sound signals are ______ and change smoothly over time, but a computer can only store discrete binary values. To store sound, the wave must be sampled. An analogue to digital convertor, known as an ______, repeatedly measures the analogue input and converts it into binary data.

A sample is a measurement of the ______ of the wave at a particular moment. The ______ is the number of samples taken every second and is measured in ______. The number of bits used to record each measurement is the ______. By contrast, the ______ is the length of time between one sample and the next.

Both a higher sample rate and a greater bit depth measure the wave more ______ and improve the quality of the recording. However, both also increase the ______, because more binary data must be stored.

Sound can never be stored exactly in binary, because each sample is ______ to the nearest available value. If only a few bits are available for each sample, the number of possible values is small, so the height of the wave is measured less accurately and quiet sounds may be lost.