Sound Absorbing Capability of Dried Alfalfa Hay: Analytical Essay

Noise pollution is an undesirable sound which can interfere with our lifestyle and wildlife, such as sleeping, communication, or disrupt or restrict the best quality lifestyle for us. An environment exposed to noise pollution can be a cause of heart related problems. Studies have shown that high intensity sound cause a substantial rise in blood pressure as noise levels constrict the arteries, interfering the blood flow. The heart rate (the number of heartbeats per minute) also increase. This was evident in one study wherein the heart rate of children staying in an environment with noise pollution and children living in a peaceful environment was measured. The heart rate of the children living in noisy environment is greater than the ones in a peaceful environment. These sudden abrupt changes in the blood increase the plausibility of cardiovascular diseases in the long run. Even low levels of noise can have an impact on our health. It may lead to hypertension, disrupt sleep and hinder cognitive development in children. Some of the severe effects of noise pollution are psychiatric disorders or permanent loss of memory. This calls the correct analysis of the noise problem and application of various administrative, engineering and medical control measures. The advancement of technology and development of countries in different sectors such as industry, energy, transport and community are the prime sources of noise pollution today. In many industries, it is a requirement that people always wear earplugs to allow them to minimize the exposure to heavy noise. People who work with lawn mowers, tractors and noisy equipment are also required to wear noise-proof gadgets.

These days, Acoustic foam is used to absorb sounds. It is shaped like a pyramid and has a distinctive wedge that is very effective in sound absorbing. This foam can be attached to walls as panels, hung from above, or rest in corners as bass straps and great to be used for small to medium rooms like studio recordings, control boardrooms, or small theatre rooms. It lessens noise pollution, improve quality of sound, and enhance the design of a room. But, it costs greatly. It has fire properties, because it is composed of polyurethane mainly, it emits a high level of smoke when burned. So, it may be dangerous if fire happened. When wrongly placed, acoustic foam doesn't absorb sound and tend to bounce or reflect back sound waves from a wall to another. Egg cartons also do not absorb much sound. They are simply recycled cardboard and absorbs sound as much as putting a cardboard on a wall. Materials made of foam like carpets, mattresses, and sound absorption equipment absorb noise better than egg cartons, but the aim of egg carton is not absorption, but echo reduction. Acoustic panels are costly for a unit. It skyrockets when factoring the cost of several units. The dilemma, in the case, is people don't really know the quantity needed so a studio space will sound nice until at least two panels are placed on the wall at the first reflection points.

The Alfalfa hay used in this study is resistant to decaying since it is already dried, but it positively responds to irrigation and will make yields nearly proportional to the quantity of water in the crop. It is a perennial herbaceous legume, a plant where the roots are not cut when harvesting and regenerates from the part it was cut. Since it can regenerate, it can be cost-efficient since the user won’t have to buy a pack of seeds again after its harvest. It is developed in a lot of countries reaching 436 million tons in 2006. Alfalfa Hay has a lot of abilities such as winter hardiness, resistance to dryness, tolerance to heavy grazing or tolerance to pests and diseases. There are a number of chemical components of Alfalfa hay that can be determined by currently available laboratory techniques. These allow the Alfalfa hay to be divided into its ash (i.e., mineral) component (9 to 13% of hay dry matter (DM)), fat (2 to 3% of DM), protein (15 to 25% of DM), non-structural carbohydrate such as sugars, pectins and starches (20 to 35% of DM), and structural carbohydrates (30 to 50% of DM). Ash, protein, fat and structural carbohydrates serve as the components for its fiber. The researcher will use Alfalfa Hay as a sound absorber for it has a great amount of fiber, it can be accessed easily and will not be easily destroyed because it has a great resistance on pest and any kind of weather. Absorb, meaning take in or soak up (energy, or a liquid or other substance) by chemical or physical action, typically gradually. Alfalfa Hay is a high-fiber legume hay. It has the same long-strand fiber found in grass hays, only it has more protein, energy and calcium. In this study, the researchers will use the fibre in the Alfalfa Hay as a sound proofing material for a natural fibre can replace synthetic fibre as the main material for the production of sound absorber.

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Alfalfa Hay (Medicago sativa), also known as Lucerne Hay, is used as a vital source of fiber for horses, rabbits, and other hay eating animals. It can be ordered online with a price of 3,500 to 4,500 pesos per ton and a company in Zamboanga. However, for this study, the Alfalfa Hay was ordered from a company in Pasay that sells it for only P99 per kilo, since using a ton would be excessive, not to mention, its cost and its shipping fee. Based on the book ‘Irrigated Alfalfa Management for Mediterranean and Desert Zones’ by Daniel H. Putnam, Peter Robinson, and Ed DePeters, Alfalfa Hay loses its quality as it matures, and is more subject to color change, light damage, coarse stems, heavy weed content, molds, etc. Mature Alfalfa hay is considered below average in quality for its high fiber content, however, its fiber content increases as it matures .The fiber content of alfalfa hays range from 20 to 28%. It was found that both natural fibers and their composites had superior capability of noise reduction because of their multi-scale and hollow lumen structures which contributed to the high sound absorption performance. Moreover, the Delany-Bazley and Garai-Pompoli models calculated the sound absorption properties of these natural fibers. They showed good agreement with the experimental data . It was concluded that multi-functional composite materials made out of natural fibers can achieve mechanical and acoustical functions . Koizumi et al reported that the sound absorption coefficient is inversely proportional to fiber diameter. This is because, thin fibers can move more easily than thick fibers on sound waves. In addition, with fine denier (D) fibers, more fibers are required for the material to be very compact, resulting to higher airflow resistance . A study concluded that the fine fiber content increases sound absorption coefficient values due to airflow constrictions by means of friction of viscosity through the vibration of the air. Common instruments used to measure the magnitude of noise fluctuations include sound level metres, dosimeters, sound scopes, noise integrators, graphical recorders etc..

A composite material used for sound absorption, made from wood fiber and polyester fiber, resulted from using polyester foam technology and wood-based composite technology. This study aimed to search for the physical and mechanical properties along with the effects of the materials’ airflow resistivity and the depth of the cavities behind the sound-absorbing performance of the composite material. The results of the study showed that to attain the best sound absorption results with their current materials, the composite of best physical and mechanical properties and sound absorption should be made with a 150°C hot-pressing temperature, 10 min hot-press time, 3 : 1 the ratio of wood fiber to polyester fiber, foaming agent content of 8%, and the nominal density of 0.2 g/cm3; the composite material yielded superior sound absorption property with the airflow resistivity of 1.98 × 105 Pas/m2 This being said, they’ve proven that the frequencies of the sound absorption peak moved to lower levels when the length of cavities increased, thus, making them indirectly proportional.

The aim of this study is to improve soundproofing in buildings and rooms. Soundproofing with the use of sound absorbing panels is essential to humans because it stops sound from going inside a room, and further deducting the amount of sound pollution to be exposed to. In a recording room setting, it’s critical to stop sound from contaminating what’s being recorded. While in a control/mixing room, home theater or listening room, it’s important to keep the noise floor down to a minimum so it’s not masking details and limiting the dynamic range of the room/equipment system. Noise reduction/Soundproofing is the easiest way to increase your quality of life and allows you to relax. The reduction of noise can offer you a complete peace of mind and can also contribute to your overall health and well being so that you will not have to face issues like noise pollution in your neighborhood.

The utilization of Alfalfa Hay (Medicago sativa) as a soundproofing material greatly lowers the cost of soundproofing structures. Current materials like anti-vibe pads, green glue, and acoustic foam are too expensive for ordinary people to afford. Farmers, who have the easiest access to Alfalfa hay if they grow it, can use these sound panels at a low cost. Soundproofing is also used on certain science laboratories to hinder the possibilities of generating loud noises. It even plays an essential role on workers and offices because researchers concluded that soundproofing can lower work errors by 10%, reduce employee stress by 27%, eliminate 51% of conversational distractions and improve worker concentration by 48%. This study aims to prove that Alfalfa Hay can offer high-quality soundproofing at a low cost because of its cheap prices and high amount of fibre. This study can improve on a huge scale basis the affordability and quality of eco friendly sound absorbing panels.