Acoustic analysis and characterization of Indian musical instrument: Ghumot

The study conducted was to characterize the acoustic features and spectrum of the Ghumot, a membranophone type musical instrument indigenous to Western India. This instrument is part of the dying culture of Goan traditional music; hence it has been studied to give it a scientific understanding. The instrument was played with both conditions of the resonance cavity taken into account (open and closed), and the frequency domain spectra were determined for each. The variation in the acoustics characteristics of the instrument was plotted according to position of impact and position of measurement. The Ghumot membrane displayed non-linear characteristics as compared to a uniform, isotropic circular membrane. A comparative study was also made for the Ghumot and the Tabla to determine the number of unique tones or ‘bols’ that the instrument can produce.