STEM with Sound: Voice Muffler Free STEM Challenge

Building A Voice Muffler: A Fun Sound-Based STEM Project

In this free STEM challenge, students will follow the engineering design process to create their very own voice muffler. If you are studying sound, this is a challenge your students will love trying out! You won’t need a lot of expensive materials, and this activity is seriously fun for students to test out (yes, they get to try to be loud!).

Overview and STEM Career Connection

Acoustical engineering or sound engineering is a field that explores how sound is produced, transmitted, and manipulated and includes studying vibrations. Acoustic engineers might work on architectural projects, environmental settings, medical technology like ultrasound, consumer electronics, musical instruments, or in aeroacoustics to study how things like wind turbines and aircraft produce sound.

Why a Voice Muffler?

While amplifying sound is another great activity to try (check out this post on plastic cup STEM challenges), this one will require students to get creative and test out different materials in order to succeed!

Materials You’ll Need

One of the best aspects of this project is that it doesn’t require a long shopping list or expensive materials. Here’s what you’ll need (don’t forget to download the printables for this free STEM challenge at the bottom of this post, too!):

Cardboard tubes: You can collect these from empty paper towel or toilet paper rolls.
Scissors: For cutting and shaping the tubes.
Tape: To hold everything together.
Cotton balls, fabric, paper scraps or foam: To act as sound-absorbing material.

Before Diving In

I always like to start off a STEM challenge with background vocabulary, videos, or a discussion about the topic. Ask students what are some sounds they like or dislike? Which sounds do they hear daily or infrequently? What do your students know about noise pollution?

Follow the Engineering Design Process with this Free STEM Challenge

Before you start building your voice muffler, briefly go over the engineering design process and background information.

ASK: Identify the Problem: In this activity, the problem is to muffle the sound produced when speaking so that the person listening can no longer understand what the speaker is saying.
IMAGINE: Research: Learn about sound, its properties, and how it can be controlled or manipulated. Go over the “Talk like an engineer” vocabulary cards included in the download. Watch these videos about sound: What is Sound? from SciShow Kids (lower grades), Crash Course about sound (upper grades), or scan the playlist from NatGeo Kids about sound. Brainstorm: Generate ideas for your voice muffler. How can you use the materials you have to achieve your goal? Which materials do you think will work best?
PLAN: Create a plan for the voice muffler. Decide on its shape, size, and how you’ll use the materials.
CREATE: Put your design into action. Assemble your voice muffler according to your plan. Test the voice muffler by speaking through it. Does it reduce the sound?
IMPROVE: How can you modify the voice muffler so that it does an even better job of decreasing the intensity of the sound?

Get the printable STEM challenge pages

Thanks for Reading!

Building a voice muffler is an engaging STEM project that gives students a way to try out being an acoustic engineer for a day. Let me know if you’ve given this challenge a try and what you thought!