Investigation on natural waste fibers from dried paddy straw as a sustainable acoustic absorber

The use of synthetic materials as acoustic absorbers is still applied extensively in building industry. These non-biodegradable materials do not only cause pollution to the environment, but also contribute significantly in increasing the CO₂ causing the effect of global warming. Therefore researchers have now driven their attentions to find sustainable and eco-friendly materials to be an alternative sound absorber. This paper discusses the use of natural fibers from dried paddy straw as a fibrous acoustic material. Since this is one of common natural waste materials found across South East Asia, the usage will also minimize the production cost. A panel sound absorber from paddy straw is fabricated and its acoustic properties are investigated through experiment. Good acoustic performance is found particularly above 2000 Hz and is comparable against that from the classical synthetic absorber.