The Effect of Thermal Insulators on the Reverbration of Sound In an Enclosed Enviorment
School Name
Spring Valley High School
Grade Level
10th Grade
Presentation Topic
Engineering
Presentation Type
Non-Mentored
Abstract
High decibels have many disastrous effects on humans, but one of the main problems is when they are played in an enclosed room. As the sound waves reflect off of each surface in a room, they amplify over time, which could severely damage the hearing of humans. "Listening effort," which is often defined as the cognitive resources necessary for speech recognition naturally varies with the difficulty of a listening situation.(The effect of noise reverberation on listening efforts for adults with normal hearing, 2016) One of the main causes for study failure is the lack of focus in noisy environments. Finding ways to decrease the amount of background noise in frantic environments was the goal by decreasing the reverberation. Reverberation is the reflection of sound waves on any given surface in an enclosed environment. From this experiment, sound diffusers made from styrofoam were believed to be the best method to decrease the amount of reverberation. A wooden rectangular sound box was created to help contain the sound and create a mock simulation of a regular room. Then, five different sets of trials were conducted to determine which insulator proved most effective in decreasing the amount of reverberation. Each independent variable was placed along the walls of the sound box for the different trials after which 10 seconds of sound was recorded using a decibel meter. After the frequency was played, it was turned off for ten seconds and data was recorded again.
Recommended Citation
Mills, Alexander, "The Effect of Thermal Insulators on the Reverbration of Sound In an Enclosed Enviorment" (2020). South Carolina Junior Academy of Science. 86.
https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/scjas/2020/all/86
Location
John's Hall 107
Start Date
3-28-2020 10:45 AM
Presentation Format
Oral and Written
Group Project
No
The Effect of Thermal Insulators on the Reverbration of Sound In an Enclosed Enviorment
John's Hall 107
High decibels have many disastrous effects on humans, but one of the main problems is when they are played in an enclosed room. As the sound waves reflect off of each surface in a room, they amplify over time, which could severely damage the hearing of humans. "Listening effort," which is often defined as the cognitive resources necessary for speech recognition naturally varies with the difficulty of a listening situation.(The effect of noise reverberation on listening efforts for adults with normal hearing, 2016) One of the main causes for study failure is the lack of focus in noisy environments. Finding ways to decrease the amount of background noise in frantic environments was the goal by decreasing the reverberation. Reverberation is the reflection of sound waves on any given surface in an enclosed environment. From this experiment, sound diffusers made from styrofoam were believed to be the best method to decrease the amount of reverberation. A wooden rectangular sound box was created to help contain the sound and create a mock simulation of a regular room. Then, five different sets of trials were conducted to determine which insulator proved most effective in decreasing the amount of reverberation. Each independent variable was placed along the walls of the sound box for the different trials after which 10 seconds of sound was recorded using a decibel meter. After the frequency was played, it was turned off for ten seconds and data was recorded again.
