Acoustics is the branch of physics that deals with the science of sound. Although sound has been studied since Galileo (1564–1642) made some predictions in the early 1600s, the ability to study sound has grown tremendously in the past few decades because of the advent of electronic sound generators and measuring devices. In addition to the study of sound itself, the field of acoustics has several applied sub-fields, the most important being speech and hearing, architectural acoustics, and musical acoustics.