VALPARAISO — Two Rocky Bayou Christian School students might be well on their way to unlocking a solution to a long-debated community issue.
Since September, senior Jessica Sandlin and junior Stefan Makarov have conducted a variety of sound tests for a school science project to discover what homeowners in Valparaiso might do to lessen the auditory impact of F-35 jets landing and taking off from neighboring Eglin Air Force Base.
Their experiment was so well received that they are now headed to the state science fair.
See the two working on the project »
Read their report on their findings.
“It was kind of my fault we decided to do this,” said Jessica, whose father is a retired Air Force pilot. “I knew a lot of people were worried there were going to be problems with the F-35s.”
To get started, the teens pulled up research on the topic, including details from lawsuits filed by Valparaiso asserting that noise from the jets would make 35 percent of the city unlivable.
With the initial research behind them, they reached out to a neighbor who was the sound engineer selected by the city to research just how loud the F-35s were compared to other jets already at the base. He provided them with one of his recorded sound clips, and the project took off from there.
To conduct each experiment, the high schoolers used a recording of the jet on a computer, a set of speakers and a “sound isolation box” equipped with an instrument to record the decibels making it indoors.
“Our hypothesis was the sound was most likely to come through the windows,” Stefan said. “But we found out it came through the walls.”
In fact, when their research was complete, Stefan and Jessica found that double-paned windows block about as much sound as a home with vinyl siding. More surprising still, they found that a door with hurricane-proof glass in it actually absorbed sound better than vinyl siding, Jessica said.
Of the four types of homes tested, the one that performed the best had several layers between the living space and the brick exterior, Stefan said.
“It actually brought it down to below street noise (in decibels),” he said.
The good news for homeowners, the students said, is that clear solutions for noise issues with the jets, at least indoors, do exist. The bad news is the teens didn’t have enough time, or money, to discover what substances specifically provide the best sound abatement in homes.
But they’re not done. After they get through the state science fair this week, the teens plan to turn their attention to the next phase of the project.
Stefan will technically be alone in presenting it next year since Jessica is leaving for college, but she said she plans to help however she can from afar.
The plan, as of right now, is to conduct tests to identify not only what substances and layers don’t block sound, but to identify the ones that truly do.
“I really enjoy sound and the way it works,” Stefan said. “I want to learn more about it.”
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Katie Tammen at 850-315-4440 or ktammen@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KatieTnwfdn.
