Final answer:
Equalization is the process of altering sound by boosting or cutting specific frequencies, and this is the correct answer to the student's question. It is different from amplitude modulation, which involves encoding information by varying the amplitude of a carrier wave.
Step-by-step explanation:
The process of altering sound by boosting or cutting certain frequencies is known as Equalization. So, the correct answer to the question is option 3) Equalization. The quality of a sound is indeed affected by frequency, amplitude, and timing of the sound wave, which can collectively be referred to as the sound's waveform. When a tuning fork, a violin string, and a loudspeaker produce sound, it is because they are vibrating, and vibration involves amplitude and frequency, which determine the volume and pitch of the sound respectively. Amplitude modulation, or AM, is a specific technique that alters the amplitude of a carrier wave to encode information, without changing the frequency of the wave.