Project Report
 

Name – SOCD (Sound Observation & Cacophony Detection Device)

 

Objective – To detect the decibel level of noise and alert the user if the noise level is injurious and harmful

 

Motivation – Loud noise from various sources is always a cause of extreme exasperation. However, it may have an intense impact on our health as well. The detrimental effects of this cacophonous sounds include headache, high blood pressure, extreme stress, speech interference, sleep disruption and lost productivity. The most profound impact is on hearing. The noise makes elderly, people who are extremely sensitive to loud noise, young children and even animals highly susceptible to hearing loss, up to 90% loss, and even deafness. Hearing loss is something which requires immediate treatment. But it is often quite difficult for the patient to recognize and diagnose such hearing loss on his own. The treatment is also expensive and not available everywhere. We are proposing a solution to this problem by our Sound Observation & Cacophony Detection Device (SOCD) which, on detecting noise beyond a certain decibel level, will send a notification to the user’s phone number. Through this he can be alerted of the noise’s impact on him and he can move to a safe place.

What it does – Whenever the noise level of the surroundings exceeds a certain threshold level (for example, 60 decibel), then a message will be sent to the person’s phone number, warning him of the high noise level. This will, to some extent, alert the citizens and thus prevent hearing loss among pedestrians and stray animals.

Structure – We have created the first protype design of the intended project. The circuit consists of a KY-308 sound sensor, an Arduino UNO board, an LCD screen and a GSM SIM900A module. However, many other modifications and additions are also possible in this system. The sensor is connected to the Arduino UNO, which, in turn, is connected to the LCD screen and the GSM module. We have programmed the Arduino UNO using the Arduino IDE software. When the noise exceeds a certain customizable threshold value (in this case, we have set the threshold value to 60 dB) the sensor will send a signal to the Arduino UNO, which will in turn, display the sound level on the LCD screen and also send a message to the specified phone number through the connected GSM module. We have also used the green-red-blue lighting scheme, i.e. if the noise level is low, the green light starts glowing while if the noise level is high, the blue light starts glowing. If the noise level is intermediate, the red light starts glowing. In this way, the user can be cautioned against dangerous noise levels.