The Sound Attenuation of Various Construction Materials
This experiment was designed to test the sound absorption properties of drywall, cement, and insulation, all of a 1 in. thickness, at frequencies between 100 Hz. and 9887 Hz. We placed a speaker in a concrete box and laid the test material over the top of the box. Then we used a decibel meter to measure the decrease in decibels when 10 tones, between the frequencies given above, were played on the speaker. We discovered two relationships in our data. First, by running two sample t-tests on the data for each material, we found that the data sets for each material were from different populations. Secondly, by finding the average decibel decrease for each material, we discovered that concrete had the greatest average decibel decrease followed closely by drywall and insulation had a relatively small average decrease.
Research Done By:
Kevin Boice
Sterling
Mike Hoard
Sterling
Warren Consolidated Schools