The Effect of Noise Pollution Due to Burr Mills Grinders on their Operators
Authors: Afolayan MO, Iorpenda MJ
DOI Info: N/A
ABSTRACT
Burr mill grinders are one of the major noise pollutants in Nigerian communities - in the cities and the villages as well. Those living close to the burr mill grinders’ installations and especially their operators are noticeably and negatively aggressive in their social lifestyles. Quantifying and linking this behavioural attitude to this noise pollution source is the study this work is aiming at achieving. The SpectralPlus® audio software was used for quantifying the noise pattern from two locally constructed burr mill grinders – a bigger one (for dried farm produce like cassava, yam and maize) and a smaller one (for things like pepper and tomatoes). The burr millers noise spectrum was flat and with their peaks at about-24.51 dB and -26.06 dB. The peak frequencies for different food materials were 1603 Hz (Maize), 840 Hz (Cassava), 1012 Hz (Yam), 919 Hz (Tomato), 845 Hz (Beans) and 772 Hz (Pepper). The cut-in (when the operators start perceiving sound) and cut-off frequencies (when they stop perceiving sound) averaged between 183.93 Hz (at -4.59 dB) and 364.27 Hz (at -3.80 dB) respectively. Comparing this to the optimum human hearing range of 1 kHz to 4 kHz, and normal human conversation of 60 dB (or approximately -45 dB using relative amplitude scaling) and ambient noise of -27.5 to -26.73 dB due to the burr mills, the operators will have to struggle to hear clearly and shout to be heard because of the noise.
Affiliations: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.
Keywords: Noise, Aggression, Nigeria Environment, Burr Mills, Hearing Loss, Noise Spectrum
Published date: 2020/12/30
