Evaluation of Agricultural Waste Natural Fiber as an Acoustic Absorber for Reduction of Industrial Noise

Industrial noise is a cause of major concern as it can harm worker’s health and also affect human performance at work. Hearing loss, amplified stress, and increased risk of accidents are some of the detrimental effects of noise. This in turn affects the productivity and may cause fatal accidents in certain cases. This research work focuses on evaluating the suitability of agricultural wastes natural fiber namely rice, wheat, and mustard husk as a sustainable acoustic absorber for industrial noise control. Die compaction process has been used to make the cylindrical specimens. Physical properties such as porosity, tortuosity, and flow resistivity for each of the compacts have been determined in order to predict the acoustic absorption behavior of these natural fibers. Characteristic impedance and sound absorption coefficient have been calculated based on Delany–Bazley model, which are found to increase with frequency.