Chapter I

Introduction

1.1. Overview/ Background of the Study

Nowadays, as modern technology flourishes, pollution has also become

increasingly apparent in our environment. One of the pollution evidently found in our

environment is noise. According to the researchers Pratibha Singh, Praveen Kumar and

Maurya Roli Verma, noise problem and its related issues are one of the major problems

which are related to our environment. Though it may not seem as harmful as

contamination in water and air, noise is pollution due to its adverse effects on people and

the environment. According to World Health Organization (WHO), 360 million people

worldwide have disabling hearing loss and around 32 million of these are children, they

further stated that exposure to excessive noise is one of the causes. Noise is a sound

energy that is loud or unpleasant which causes disturbance. It can also be defined as

“unwanted sound.” Though noise is sound, they are different, and the differences depend

on the listener and the circumstances such as rock or metal music may be pleasurable to

one person but may be annoying to another person.

Noise can be categorized into two types; indoor noise and outdoor noise. Outdoor

noises are found outside the house, examples of these are vehicular noise from

motorcycles, cars, buses, trains, construction sites, drilling a water pump, explosions etc.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), prolonged exposure to noise levels

8
at or above 80 decibels would cause permanent hearing loss. A study made by the Asian

Development Bank (ADB) shows that the tailpipe noise emitter by tricycles produced

noise levels as high as 97 decibels. Based on the data presented by the Land

Transportation Office on “Registered Motor Vehicles by Classification and Region from

2010-2013” approximately 15,730,966 vehicles are motorcycles or tricycles registered in

the entirety of the Philippines. Indoor noises are those found inside the house or a building

such as radios, instruments, music system etc.

In terms of health, noise may cause hearing loss, hypertension, annoyance, sleep

disturbances etc. According to the Department of Health (DOH) National Registry in 1997,

hearing impairment was said to be 17% or 97,957 per 577,345 population. A similar

survey was conducted in 1995 by the Philippine Consensus of Population showed that

prevalence rate of hearing diseases was estimated to be 12.55% or 115,357 per 919,292

individuals. At that time, the criteria were based on the set by the Employees’

Compensation Commission of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), cases

of hearing loss were categorized into partially deaf (7.57%), totally deaf (2.50%), poor

hearing ability (2.48%). Another survey regarding hearing loss entitled “Risk Factors in

Traditionally Noisy Workplaces Associated with (Noise-induced Hearing Loss) NIHL”

conducted from 2000-2002, showed that the prevalence of hearing loss among Filipino

workers for both ears was at 42.4%, 12% on the right ear only, 12.1% on the left ear only

and 65.5% of these were primarily due to noise-induced hearing loss.

9
 Sound plays a key role in the ecosystem, it affects wildlife in terms of its ability to

find food, attract mate, find an adequate habitat, avoid predators and protect the young.

For example, the researchers (Loftus-Hills and Johnstone 1969, Loftus-Hills 1973)

discovered that the males of the southern brown tree frog (Litoria ewingii) from southern

Australia began calling at a higher pitch in an effort to distinguish their calls from traffic

noise, however the females of that species prefer a lower pitch calling, which means there

is less successful mating within the species in general due to noise pollution.

The researchers have learnt that noise is a sound energy and sound energy is a

mechanical energy. To be able to make use of the rapidly increasing noise pollution in

our environment, the researchers aim to find an alternative way to reuse noise or sound

energy into electrical energy. Through this study, this may help give solution to the

problems that our country is facing

1.2. Statement of the Problem

According to the Department of Energy (DOE), the Philippines remain as one of

the countries with the highest power rates in Southeast Asia. At the same time, the

Philippines has the 5th highest cost of electricity in the world. According to the government

think-tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) in a study by Adoracion

Navarro, about 16 million people in the Philippines still do not have access to electricity..

According to World Health Organization (WHO), 360 million people worldwide have

disabling hearing loss. As noise pollution is rapidly increasing in our environment, the

10
researchers aim to make use of this sound energy and turn it into something useful. This

experimental study aims to produce an alternative use sound energy by converting sound

energy to electrical energy. This study focuses on the conversion of different levels of

sound into electrical energy with the use speaker as a generator.

1.3. Research Objectives/Questions

The researchers aim to produce a cost-effective generator which could convert

sound energy into electrical energy. The researchers also aim to achieve the following

objectives:

1. To determine whether the level of noise affect the amount of electrical

energy produced.

2. To determine what properties of the materials used can convert sound

energy to electrical energy.

3. To produce an alternative source of electrical energy.

1.4. Significance of the Study

The researchers aim to produce cost-effective experiment which could convert

sound energy into electrical energy and would also be able to further benefit the following;

the environment, the people, the country, future researchers, environmentalists and

audiologists. By converting noise into electrical energy, we may be able to lessen the

rapidly increasing noise pollution in our environment, thus contributing to the country and

the environment.

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 This study will educate the people on alternative use of sound energy and help

them make use of another way to produce electricity. This study may also be used and

applied by different professionals such as researchers, environmentalists and

audiologists in their own specific fields. The researchers would like future researchers to

further expand this research study and give credits and citations to respective people.

The researchers also believe that this study would benefit the country or the nation,

as it may help give solution to the problems our country is facing up to this day. It could

be proposed to the Department of Energy (DOE) for it to be possible and be further

studied in the future as projects or plans for the betterment of the country.

1.5 Scope and Limitation of the Study

The researchers will only focus on producing a cost-effective generator which will

hopefully not exceed the budget of P200. This study will make use of recycling materials

to further ensure the project to be cost-friendly and even eco-friendly. To further limit the

study, the researchers will only make use of sound energy as the mechanical energy to

be converted and will only make a small design to prove the efficiency of the generator in

converting sound to electrical energy. There will be no use of living things in this

experiment and will only be conducted after studying it thoroughly.

12
 Chapter II

Theoretical Background

2.1. Review of Related Literature

Energy Harvesting

According to the researchers Pratibha Singh, Praveen Kumar and Maurya Roli

Verma, energy harvesting (also known as power harvesting or energy scavenging) is the

process by which energy is imitative from external sources (e.g. solar power, thermal

energy, sound energy wind energy, salinity gradients and kinetic energy), captured, and

stored for small, wireless self-governing devices, like those used in wearable electronics

and wireless sensor networks.

A smart city is a city which functions in a sustainable and intelligent way by

integrate all its infrastructures and services into a consistent whole and using intelligent

devices for monitoring and control, to ensure sustainability and efficiency. In a world

where population numbers are constantly rising, significantly driving the consumption of

resources causing resource shortages and climate change, the incentive for innovative

solutions is obvious. Urban areas, in particular, are responsible for the major part of

resource consumption, instigating an increasing need to create smarter infrastructures,

in search of greener and more energy efficient urban dynamics.

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Sound Becomes Light

According to Brooke Borel, 2009, researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National

Laboratory in California successfully converted sound waves to light radiation by

reversing a process that transforms electricity to sound, which is commonly used in cell

phones. This is the first time that sound has been converted to light. The findings, which

were published this week in Nature Physics, could improve how computer chips, LEDs,

and transistors are made, and also have applications in ultrafast materials science and

terahertz radiation (T-ray) generation. The research team initially predicted that the

conversion was possible around a year ago, using computer modelling, and has been

trying to confirm it in the lab ever since.

They used a piezoelectric material, whose intrinsic properties allow it to convert

electricity into sound, or movement into electricity, and which is used in speakers and

sonar transducers on submarines. In the study, the researchers sent a very-high-

frequency sound wave, with a frequency around 100 million times higher than what

humans are capable of hearing, through the piezoelectric material, which converted it into

electrical signals. The electrical signals gave off radiation, or light waves, in the terahertz

frequency.

According to Evan Reed, one of the authors of the study, converting sound to light

itself is novel, because there is only a very narrow frequency range -- around 100 GHz to

10 THz -- where sound and light waves overlap.

14
 The findings provide a new possible method for creating or studying several

technologies, according to Reed. One application might help build better electronics.

Electronics manufacturers such as Nitronex Corporation, which donated the piezoelectric

materials used in the study, make devices grown out of gallium nitride (GaN) and

aluminum nitride (AlN), which are grown on a substrate and consist of layers of very thin

films.

One complication in this manufacturing process is determining the exact

composition of the film -- even the thickness of each layer of the film is hard to measure,

because it is so tiny. But accurate thickness is important, because some electronic

devices require a specific thickness for each component of the film. In the new research,

the scientists sent acoustic waves through a film consisting of GaN and AlN layers, and

were able to measure the thickness of the layers by measuring the time that it took for the

acoustic wave to convert to radiation.

The T-rays from the process may also help researchers in the field of ultrafast

materials science, which aims, among other things, to understand what happens to

materials in the short time frame that follows ultrafast (on a sub-nanosecond scale)

processes, like metal melting after being hit by a laser. And finally, while it wasn't the main

goal of the study, the findings may yield a new way to generate T-rays, which are

somewhat difficult to generate. T-rays can detect a variety of weapons and explosives,

and may have applications in medicine, for example, in skin cancer-detecting devices.

15
Converting Sound Into Useful Energy

According to Sarah Jensen (2011), stand next to the entrance ramp of a busy

freeway at rush hour or walk into an American Eagle clothing store and the first thing

you’ll notice is the noise. The din can seem deafening, and it’s tempting to imagine

channeling that sound energy into a way to power streetlights and electric cars — or at

least to charge your smartphone.

“There is definitely energy contained in that sound,” says David Cohen-Tanugi,

vice president of the MIT Energy Club and a John S. Hennessy Fellow in MIT’s

Department of Materials Science and Engineering. “But the density of the energy is very

low, and there is no way to capture it all. You’d have to have obscenely loud, continuous

noise for harvesting to be worthwhile.”

What the human ear perceives as clanging cacophony — the roar of a train engine

or the whine of a pneumatic drill — only translates to about a hundredth of a watt per

square meter. In contrast, the amount of sunlight hitting a given spot on the earth is about

680 watts per meter squared. “That’s many orders of magnitude more,” explains Cohen-

Tanugi. “That’s why it’s more efficient to collect and store sunlight using solar panels than

to harvest energy from sound. And the energy density in oil and gas is orders and orders

of magnitude higher, making generating power from those sources, even more, cost

effective.”

16
 That’s not to say researchers aren’t examining ways to transfer environmental

noise into electrical energy. Passing trains and subways aren’t only loud, but their

surroundings rattle and vibrate as they pass, and part of the thrill of a rock concert is

feeling the whole auditorium shake. “There’s a strong interplay between vibrations

through the medium that you hear through — air or water — and the physical objects

around you,” says Cohen-Tanugi. “It’s perfectly conceivable to absorb that movement and

glean useable energy. You’re not going to power a city with it, but you can power small

devices.”

New Technologies Converts Sound Waves into Electricity

According to Richard Gray (Science Correspondent 2011), For mobile phone

users, a flatbattery or a lost charger are among the dissatisfactions of present day life.

Presently new research guarantees an approach to revive telephones utilizing only the

energy of the human voice. Electrical specialists have built up another procedure for

transforming sound into power, enabling a portable to be controlled up while its client

holds a discussion. The innovation would likewise have the capacity to outfit foundation

clamor and even music to charge a telephone while it isn't being used.

However, there could be a drawback to the development, in the event that it gives

individuals another motivation to yell into their telephones as they endeavor to crush in

each additional piece of energy they can. Dr Sang-Woo Kim, who has been building up

the outline at the establishment of nanotechnology at Sungkyunkwan College in Seoul,

17
South Korea, stated: "various methodologies for rummaging vitality from situations have

been seriously investigated. "The sound that dependably exists in our regular day to day

existence and situations has been ignored as a source. This roused us to acknowledge

control age by turning sound vitality from discourse, music or clamor into electrical power.

“Sound power can be used for various novel applications including cellular phones

that can be charged during conversations and sound-insulating walls near highways that

generate electricity from the sound of passing vehicles. “The latter development would

have the additional benefit of reducing noise levels near highways by absorbing the sound

energy of vehicles.” The innovation utilizes small strands of zinc oxide sandwiched

between two electrodes. A sound engrossing cushion on top vibrates when sound waves

hit it, causing the modest zinc oxide wires to pack and discharge. This development

creates an electrical current that would then be able to be utilized to charge a battery. A

model of the innovation could change over sound of around 100 decibels – the likeness

boisterous activity – to produce 50 millivolts of power. Our present yield execution can be

connected to different electronic gadgets with low-control utilization, for example, self-

controlled sensors and body-implantable small gadgets. We trust that we can understand

more productive sound-driven nanogenerators

Researchers and some manufacturers have already started looking at using

‘energy scavenging’ as a way of powering portable electronic devices. Scientists have

developed devices that can use the heartbeat to power MP3 players, while Nokia has

18
filed a patent for a device which harvests energy from movement, much like a kinetic

energy powered watch. Researchers in Japan and Germany have changed over vitality

from soundwaves into electromagnetic vitality, catching an attractive "spin current"

between metal layers. In the investigation, when sound waves are coordinated at an

interface between the thin metal layer and attractive material, electrical signs are created

at a couple of terminals joined previously. At the point when the soundwaves achieve the

attractive material, this makes a turn current that gets grabbed by three layers of metal.

This is the place the activity class-sounding converse turn Lobby impact kicks in,

changing it into an electrical voltage.

Not to be mistaken for Orange's Sound Charge Shirt, researchers trust that it ought

to be conceivable to produce that magical electromagnetic vitality from any material later

on. Right now, the task is investigating materials that can squeeze out more voltage from

the procedure - maybe a couple of years after the fact shouting at our telephones will give

their batteries a lift? Watch the video after the break for more specialized points of interest

and close-ups of the gear.

Audio Transducer

Microphones and speaker are common acoustic transducer. According to

innerspec technologies, EMAT or Electro Magnetic Acoustic Transducer is an Ultrasonic

Testing (UT) technique that generates the sound in the part inspected instead of the

transducer. It induces ultrasonic waves into a test object with two interacting magnetic

19
fields. A relatively high frequency (RF) field generated by electrical coils interacts with a

low frequency or static field generated by magnets to generate a Lorentz force in a

manner like an electric motor. This disturbance is transferred to the lattice of the

material, producing an elastic wave. In a reciprocal process, the interaction of elastic

waves in the presence of a magnetic field induces currents in the receiving EMAT coil

circuit.

While for ferromagnetic conductors, magnetostriction produces additional stresses

that enhance the signals to much higher levels than could be obtained by the Lorentz

force alone. Various types of waves can be generated using different combinations of RF

coils and magnets.

Review of Related Literature Links:

https://wakeup-world.com/2011/05/30/new-technology-converts-sound-into-

electricity/

http://www.elpapiezo.ru/eng/piezoceramic_e.shtml

http://dspace.unimap.edu.my/dspace/bitstream/123456789/1346/4/Literature%20re

view.pdf

https://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-03/sound-becomes-light

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-47145-7_19

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4003967/

http://www.nanomotion.com/piezo-ceramic-motor-technology/piezoelectric-effect/

20
 https://www.engadget.com/2011/09/20/researchers-convert-soundwaves-into-

electromagnetic-energy-sile/

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/03/these-are-the-cities-with-the-worst-

noise-pollution/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1253729/

https://www.innerspec.com/knowledge/emat-technology/

http://www.montana.edu/rmaher/ee417/transducer_tutorial.pdf

2.2.Conceptual Framework

Noise Outdoor Audio

(Sound energy) Noise Transducer

Indoor
Noise

Sound Energy to

Electrical Energy

Energy Electrical

Harvesting Energy

21
2.3. Operational Definition of Variables

The following are definition of the different variables in the study:

Noise (Sound Energy) - A sound energy that is loud or unpleasant which causes

disturbance.

Outdoor Noise - Noise found outside homes or buildings.

Indoor Noise - Noise found inside homes or buildings.

Audio Transducer- A device that transforms one form of energy – typically a signal, into

another.

Conversion - The act or process of changing from one form, state, etc to another.

Electrical Energy - The energy that is caused by moving electric charges.

Energy Harvesting - process by which energy is imitative from external sources

captured, and stored for small, wireless self-governing devices, like those used in

wearable electronics and wireless sensor networks

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 Chapter III

Methodology

3.1 Study Design:

Noise

(Sound Energy)

Low level of noise Medium level of noise High level of noise

Audio Transducer:

Speaker

Indicator: LED light

(Red)

1. The researchers will divide noise into 3 categories: Low level, Medium level and

High level.

2. The levels of noise will go through a transducer, which is a speaker separately.

3. The speaker will then convert sound energy into electrical energy which would help

light up the LED lights at the end.

23
 4. Uq na

3.2 Materials Used:

Materials (for experiment) Quantity

Used Speaker 1

Wire 2 (red and black)

Led Light (Red) 5

Scissors 1

Electric tape 1

Materials (for testing) Quantity

Apple iphone 6 plus 1

Bose Mini Sound Link 1

Wharfedale ProEVP – X15 1

3.3 Procedure:

1. Gather all the materials needed.

2. Break open the speaker and take the speaker with the attached wire to it.

3. Use scissors to cut open the wires.

4. Connect the wires to another wire (if needed) by proceeding to wrap the wires

together and taping them up with an electric tape.

5. Connect the speaker to an LED light (red)

6. Test whether it is connected properly by tapping the center of the speaker.

24
 7. Then put it near a source of sound energy and proceed to collect data.

3.4 Data Collection Procedure:

The researchers will collect data through three trials with different levels of noise.

They will separately undergo the audio transducer to different testing material and collect

data. The experiment’s indicator will be the use LED light (red) which will light up when

the sound is successfully converted into electrical energy. The researchers will proceed

to right down the data that they have collected and input it in an excel file which will further

be processed.

3.5 Data Processing, Presentation and Analysis:

The researchers will make use of Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Epi Info

ver. 7. They will encode the data with the use of Excel and save it as a smaller version

so that it would be opened in Epi Info. With the use of Epi Info, they will make tables

and easily get the mean and other variables needed with one click. Presentation of data

will be in tables and graphs. The researchers will make use of pie graphs to compare

the mean of each experiment and bar graphs to further show the data jotted down by

each trial in the experiment. This will make use of Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel in

encoding the data. The researchers will also make use graphical and narrative analysis

of the data that they have gotten.

25
 Chapter IV

Results and Discussion

4.1 Data Results:

The researchers were able to come up with a positive result in the conducted

experiment showing the potential of sound energy being transduced into electrical

energy. There are two trials, each varies in terms of level of sound produced by the

source. In the first trial, all speakers were set in their maximum volume to test if how

many led lights they can possibly accommodate. Whereas, in the second trial, the

researchers set the sound intensity equal in all speakers to see if the size and build are

factors in their efficiency.

*Audio transducer: speaker’s reverse mechanism

Volts needed to light up a red led light:

1.7 volts for non-high-brightness red, 1.9 volts for high-brightness

Source of Circumference TRIAL 1 TRIAL 2

Sound of speaker’s Intensity Number of Intensity Number of
cone lights able lights able
to lit to lit
Iphone 6s’ Undetermined 105.0 dB 1 85 dB 1- flickering
phone (max of low
speaker volume) luminous
light
Soundlink 34.6 cm 85 dB (max 3 85 dB (max 3
mini volume) volume)
speaker

EVP-X15 122.7 cm 129 dB 5 85 dB 3

26
4.2. Data Analysis

Based on the trials that the researchers conducted between the sound

range of the three different speakers; a.) mobile’s speaker, b.) a medium

sized speaker, and c.) a huge speaker, the source of sound from the

mobile phone is not enough to fully light up an LED light though flickers

of light are produced. Meanwhile, the researchers observed that the

source of sound from a medium sized speaker can light up an LED light

fully. The researchers also decided to add up some more LED and it is

still able to produce light energy for the medium sized speaker is more

likely to be compact and its cone is bigger compared to the speaker of

the mobile phone. On the other hand, with the help of the large amount of

decibels in the huge speaker, the researchers noticed that the LED lights

were easily lit up. Meaning, the energy it gives were absolutely enough to

make the LED lights work.

27
 Chapter V

Conclusion and Recommendation

5.1. Summary:

This study was made to expand the knowledge of the researchers and other future

researchers about the other beneficial or alternative uses of sound energy particularly on

its capability of producing noise levels that could convert sound energy into electrical

energy. For this to be possible, the study focuses on the conversion of different levels of

sound into electrical energy with the use of speaker as a generator. In this study, the

noise or sound energy was observed based on the level of the noise either outside or

indoor; low level of noise, medium level of noise, and high level of noise. Through this

observation, we will be able to see effectiveness of the level of noises to the audio

transducer’s (speaker) capability to light up the LED lights.

Sound energy is a mechanical energy which travel in the form of wave, and to

convert sound energy into electrical energy, the sound or noises needed a medium for it

to travel. Through this medium, it can be able to disturb the some particles that causes or

produces electricity.

The researchers on this study did three different trials between the sound range of

cellphone’s speaker, a medium-sized speaker, and a huge-sized speaker, the study

was able to find out that the effectiveness to light up an LED light really varies on how

strong the sound is. The huge speaker used with decibels of 129 that was connected to

5 LED lights was able to produce more distinct light compared to others.

28
5.2. Conclusion:

The researchers were able to conclude that

5.3. Recommendation:

Now that we know that the sound has two categories- outdoor and indoor noise. The
researchers recommend that the trials should also be made outdoor. The trials or tests
should not just be limited to indoor noise but to outdoor noise also. For example is the
noise coming from the vehicles- horn, “tambucho”, and etc.. This tests could also be made
to see whether which noise would produce greater amount of energy. And researchers
also recommend changing something from the circuit for better outcome than the one the
researchers produced.

29
References:

https://wakeup-world.com/2011/05/30/new-technology-converts-sound-into-

electricity/

http://www.elpapiezo.ru/eng/piezoceramic_e.shtml

http://dspace.unimap.edu.my/dspace/bitstream/123456789/1346/4/Literature%20re

view.pdf

https://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-03/sound-becomes-light

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-47145-7_19

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4003967/

http://www.nanomotion.com/piezo-ceramic-motor-technology/piezoelectric-effect/

https://www.engadget.com/2011/09/20/researchers-convert-soundwaves-into-

electromagnetic-energy-sile/

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/03/these-are-the-cities-with-the-worst-

noise-pollution/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1253729/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU_OHh2JR1c

http://www.montana.edu/rmaher/ee417/transducer_tutorial.pdf

30
31