Background on Building Acoustics
Definition
“Building acoustics (a.k.a architectural acoustics) is the science and engineering of achieving a good sound within a building and is a branch of acoustical engineering.” - Wikipedia
Purpose of Building Acoustics
- To protect occupants from exterior noise and vibration aggressions
- To ensure proper sound insulation between building spaces
- To control reverberation inside building spaces
- To control noise from building mechanical equipment into building spaces
- To control noise radiated to environment from building mechanical equipment of human activities
Basics of Incident Sound on Materials
Generally, when an sound wave impinges onto a material, the incident sound waves would be:
- Reflected (defined by ρ)
- Transmitted (defined by τ)
- Absorbed (defined by α)
Which resulted in the following relationship:
Some common notions on sound transmission through materials:
- The coefficients are frequency dependent
- The higher the frequency of interest, the lower the transmission coefficient, τ
- Soft and porous materials will have higher absorption coefficient, α at higher frequency of interest
Common Areas in Building Acoustics
- Sound Insulation
- Impact Noise
- Acoustic Absorption and Reverberation Time
- Vibration Control
- Construction Noise
- Stages of Building Construction
- Refurbishment
- Sound Masking
- Privacy and Security
- Room Acoustics
References
[1] M. Asselineau, Building Acoustics. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press, 2015.
[2] D. A. Bies, C. H. Hansen, and C. Q. Howard, Engineering Noise Control, 5th ed. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press, 2017.