Investigation of the sound-producing mechanism of the jew's harp
C. J. Adkins · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1974
It is shown that the jew's harp excites the mouth cavity by producing short pulses when the lamella passes through the frame. A model is proposed for the mechanism by which the pulses are generated. When the mouth cavity is tuned to low frequencies, its natural resonance time is longer than the period between successive pulses and the harmonic series of the fundamental frequency of the lamella dominates the sound as the mouth tuning is changed. At high frequencies, the mouth cavity and ear respond to each successive pulse independently so that the dominant sensation of pitch coincides with the natural resonance frequency of the mouth and may be tuned continuously.