Building Acoustics

For the benefit and wellbeing of people in offices, schools, and homes, disturbing noise from other rooms or from the outside world should be kept to a minimum.

In order to optimize the sound insulation against external noise sources, standardized Building Acoustic measurements such as airborne and impact sound insulation have been established. The Building Acoustics is thus distinguishable from Room Acoustics, which essentially deals with the acoustic properties within the room itself.

The measurement principle is simply to create a measured noise in the first room (the sending room) and compare that to a measurement in the second room (the receiving room).

• Generate a reference test signal (e.g. Pink Noise) in the sending room by using an omnidirectional loudspeaker.
• Measure the noise spectrum both in the sending and the receiving room.
• Correct the reading of the receiving room by deducting any disturbing background noise, and of the room effect (if the receiving room is reverberant, the sound level will be higher)

The airborne sound insulation of facades is measured in the same manner. In that case, the test signal source is positioned outside the building in the front of the facade partition under investigation.

Airborne sound insulation measurement

For impact sound insulation measurements, either a Tapping Machine or Impact Ball can be used as a source.

• Tapping Machine: ​
  The TM EOS2 Tapping Machine produces the impacts on the floor to determine the impact sound insulation. The hammers in this PTB-approved precision instrument hit the ground at a prescribed rate and with a constant, measured force. The remote-controlled TM EOS2 is compliant with the standards that define building acoustics.​

• Impact Ball:
  The Impact Ball IB01 is a lightweight, easy-to-use, and professional impact source for impact sound insulation measurements of floors and stairs, with an ideal performance for applications in wooden buildings, providing a highly accurate representation of human activities and low-frequency excitation.

The noise spectrum is measured in the receiving room.

TM EOS2 Tapping Machine – Impact sound insulation measurement

In the Sending Room,

• the Tapping Machine TM EOS2 is placed at several positions on the floor, or

• the Impact Ball IB01 is dropped vertically from a height of 1 m (± 1 cm) at several positions.

IB01 Impact Ball – Impact sound insulation measurement

The Sound Insulation Reporter PC Software or the XL3 Acoustic Analyzer allows you to correct the reading by deducting any disturbing background noise and reverberations.

A façade is an exterior side of a building. The soundproofing principles are essentially the same as those for interior walls. When measuring façades, the sound source is positioned outside the building.

A pink noise is used as a test signal. You need a speaker that is powerful enough to produce the desired sound level in the frequency band from 50 Hz to 10 kHz as uniformly as possible.

Façade sound insulation measurement

You will need a Sound Level Meter that is capable of measuring the required acoustic parameters in accordance with the standards. You will also need a Dodecahedron Loudspeaker as a sound source for airborne sound insulation measurements, and a Tapping Machine to produce the impact sounds. Furthermore, using a professional software package for controlling the process and reporting the results may simplify the task.

Building Acoustics measurements are defined by international and national standards.

Here you can dig deeper into each of the actual measurements:

Further links for Building Acoustics

• Reverberation Time Measurement

• Sound Insulation Measurements

• Background Noise Measurement (Noise Curves)