Sound power levels of the Caxirola and different types of caxixis

Abstract

In 2014, Brazil will host the FIFA World Cup and Brazilian Musician Carlinhos Brown created the caxirola as the official music instrument, adapting an old African instrument—the caxixi. In both instruments, the sound is generated by hard particles impacting on the walls of a closed basket. While the caxirola is made of environmental-friendly polymer, the caxixi is handcrafted of natural components. At a previous ASA meeting [Pozzer and Paul, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 134(5), 4187 (2013)], we presented both instruments and sound pressure levels measured at users ears. Being handmade makes the caxixi to be highly variable in size and proportions, in contrast to the caxirola which is an industry product. We now present sound power level (SWL) measurements made by the hemi-anechoic room method and the reverberation chamber method. The SWL measured for the caxirola was 79 to 86 dB (80 to 85 dBA) for transversal and longitudinal use, respectively. The SWL of four different caixixis measured ranged between 69 and 80 dB (70 to 79 dBA). Octave band SWLs were found to be higher for the caxirola compared to all four caxixi in the 500 Hz to 4 kHz bands.