Acoustic Properties of Albizia Adianthifolia (schum.) Wood in Relation to Moisture

Moisture in wood has been found to influence properties and performance of wood in service. The hygroscopic nature of wood makes it continuously absorb moisture from the environment and as such render wood unstable. Meanwhile, little or no information has been provided on few acoustic property of wood with respect to moisture. This study thus aim at providing more information about the acoustic properties of A. adianthifolia wood in relation to moisture. Three tress of A. adianthifolia wood were fell and samples were taken axially and radially. Acoustic test was done on the sample at green state, oven dried (OD) state and at equilibrium moisture content (EMC) state. many of the acoustic properties obtained at EMC were best such that mean fundamental frequency was 807.94HZ, specific elastic modulus – 12.65GPa, damping factor – 0.009, velocity of sound – 3542.66m/s, acoustic coefficient – 5.76, Sound quality – 126.01 and acoustic conversion efficiency – 731.75m4kg-1s-1. Optimal acoustic performance of this wood species was not recorded at oven dried state. Thus, this study revealed that a little amount of moisture in wood may be needed for optimal acoustic performance, and as such the wood of A. adianthifolia performed better at ambient temperature. However, studies into other wood species are needed to substantiate this claim