Turn It Down!

When trying to come up with a project that I would be able to actually develop and actually have an understanding of the topic it took me a few days to actually come up with an idea. I was sitting in traffic and I realized that my music was really loud at the red light. My mirrors were shaking, I could feel my chest vibrating from the bass, and I could see the people in the cars around me all staring at me. It dawned on me that I was contributing to the big problem that society has of noise pollution.

When I was in the stages of developing the product the first item that I used was a box the I cut a hole into. The product was connected with paper clips to show how it could be connected as a necklace and displayed for people to see. I know for me personally when I leave a club or a bar late and the music has been up super loud the entire time my hearing is messed up for hours.

In the process of developing the sound meter I only had to use the battery and the motherboard for the electric part of the project. I used two mason jar lids to create the part of the necklace that would protect the motherboard. I used cardboard to form a mount and also a divide between the battery and the motherboard so the two wouldn't get too hot. I left the side with the battery open so that the heat could escape and that it was facing away from the viewers anyways.

I used two key rings to connect the device to the necklace for the presentation. My dad lent me his drill so I could drill two holes in one of the mason jar lids to insert the key ring. The necklace is an old baseball necklace that I used to wear when I would play. The idea behind presenting the product as a necklace is that if it's something that you can wear people in society always want to have the newest clothes and would potentially be more willing to listen and take a stand if it is presented in a unique way.

The project is just a little noise pollution protest object that you can wear out as a necklace. The logic behind making it a necklace was to show that the piece can be shown in public but in a way that it wouldn't distract from the potential message. The target for this type of protest would be people in their early 20's that like to go out because if you can start change at a younger age then the effect will be greater.

The piece graphs the lights according to the volume of music or noise around. The louder the sound is the more lights on the motherboard will light up until it reaches its max volume and then once it goes over that point the motherboards lights up completely red. I choose the color red because that is typically the sign associated with stopping such as the stop sign being red and if people see it just start glowing red it might cause people to stop and asking what is happening.