instrument or chamber formed to respond to a single tone, 1869, agent noun in Latin form from resonate (v.).
acoustical device for reinforcing sound, as the sounding board of a piano, the "belly" of a stringed instrument, the air mass of an organ pipe, and the throat, nose, and mouth cavities of a vocal animal. In addition to augmenting acoustic power, resonators may also, by altering relative intensities of overtones, change the quality of a tone. See also soundboard. The Helmholtz resonator is an enclosed volume of air communicating with the outside through a small opening. The enclosed air resonates at a single frequency that depends on the volume of the vessel and the geometry of its opening. The term resonator also denotes a system of electrons within a molecule or ion that absorbs electromagnetic waves of particular (resonance) frequencies (see chromophore).