Beats are produced when two sinusoidal sound waves of equal amplitude and very nearly equal frequencies mix. The amplitude or intensity of the combined signal would rise and fall at a rate equal to the difference between the two original frequencies. fb = f1 − f2.
Study the beats produced by two Piezo buzzers are excited by two nearby frequencies. The sound is captured by a microphone.
From figure it can be seen how the low frequency envelope is created. Distance between two minimum pressure points of the envelope, corresponds to the beat wavelength. The Fourier transform of the output shows the two different frequency components.