Evaluation of Acoustic Performance of Traditional Mud Architecture for Thermal and Sound Comfort in Sokoto State

Traditional mud brick architecture indigenous to the Sahelian and semi-arid regions of northwestern Nigeria offers passive thermal and acoustic comfort properties that are increasingly recognized as relevant to sustainable building design. This study professionally evaluates the acoustic and thermal performance of traditional mud block buildings in Sokoto State, North West Nigeria, and compares their performance with modern sandcrete block buildings of equivalent floor plan. Reverberation time, sound transmission class, background noise levels, and speech intelligibility were measured in twelve mud buildings and eight modern buildings using calibrated acoustic measurement instruments. Thermal measurements including indoor air temperature, mean radiant temperature, and relative humidity were recorded concurrently using data loggers over a 60-day period spanning dry season conditions. Mud walls of average thickness 400 mm showed sound transmission class values of 48 to 52, superior to 200 mm sandcrete walls with values of 38 to 42, attributable to higher mass per unit area. Thermal mass analysis indicates that mud construction dampens diurnal indoor temperature swings to approximately 4 degrees Celsius compared to 12 degrees Celsius in equivalent sandcrete buildings, confirming the thermal buffering advantage of high-density earthen walls. The study contextualizes findings within contemporary sustainable architecture standards and identifies modernization strategies that preserve the acoustic and thermal advantages of traditional construction while improving structural resilience. Keywords: mud architecture, acoustic performance, thermal comfort, Sokoto State, sustainable building