Perception of the Home Environment. The 2019 Study
Time: 11:40 am
Author: Ric Van Poll
Abstract ID: 1556
RIVM conducted a questionnaire study into residents perception of the living environment. This includes monitoring data on residents perception of sounds, vibrations, odours, and safety risks in the neighbourhood. In 2019, 2259 residents of the Netherlands aged 16 years and older participated in this survey. The 2019 data show that the degree of satisfaction with the home environment was fairly high and the same as it was during the previous survey in 2016. Road traffic is an important source of severe annoyance (10.4%) and severe sleep disturbance (5,9%). Mopeds and motorbikes in particular cause severe noise annoyance (10.6%). Compared to 2016, more people experience severe annoyance from the sound of vans. Road traffic also causes nuisance due to the vibrations that it causes (3.9%). Neighbours are a source of noise annoyance (9.0%) and the most important source of severe odour annoyance. The latter primarily involves odours from fireplaces (5.3%), fire pits, and barbecues (5.0%). Activities by neighbours also cause severe annoyance due to vibrations. It also turns out that people living in the vicinity of a higher-risk activity, such as heavy industry, are more frequently (severely) concerned about their own safety. Results of the 2020 Study will presented as well.
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Quantifying sound transmission of building structures for optimization in early-stage design
Time: 4:20 pm
Author: Jonathan Broyles
Abstract ID: 1781
Technological advancements in computational building modeling have enabled designers to conduct many simulations at both the building and component levels. With the evolution of parametric modeling at the early stage of building design, designers can evaluate multiple design options and identify the best performing solutions. However, to conduct design space exploration or optimization, an objective function is needed to evaluate a designs performance. While defined objectives exist for building design considerations such as sustainability, energy usage, and structural performance there is not a single, encompassing objective that can accurately assess acoustic performance for optimization. This paper proposes the development of a novel acoustic objective function that encompasses sound transmission when designing floors, walls, or other acoustic barriers. The composite function will incorporate both air-borne and structure-borne sound simultaneously to determine the appropriate percentages for the formulation of the composite function. The results of the composite acoustic function for multiple floor constructions will be compared for the determination of a final acoustic transmission composite function. This study will detail why the implementation of a composite acoustic function is valuable for design optimization for sound transmission, what the limitations of this method are, and future applications of a composite acoustic function.
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Dutch building code regulates noise limits for outside placed heat pumps
Time: 12:00 pm
Author: Wim Beentjes
Abstract ID: 1904
To reduce CO-emission, Air/Water and Air/Air heat pumps are increasingly used in the Netherlands. Due to several noise complaints, the Dutch government decided that legal regulations were necessary to restrict outside noise. The legislation process consisted of three phases. Determination of noise limits on neighbouring plot boundaries, based on a comparison with existing noise regulations for small companies in a defined quiet living environment. Creation of rules for ground-bound dwellings and for apartments. Determination of the legal noise measurement procedure of installed heat pumps, such as defining working conditions and how to deal with tonality. Developing a design tool for simple situations. This tool calculates the sound attenuations between the heat pump and all relevant receiver positions. The smallest attenuation determines the allowed sound power level of the heat pump. This is key information for appropriate selection of heat pumps. For complex situations, special calculation is still needed.
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Neighbour noise in multi-storey housing Annoyance and potential health effects
Time: 11:00 am
Author: Birgit Rasmussen
Abstract ID: 2228
Neighbour and traffic noise annoyance questions have been included in the Danish Health and Morbidity Surveys since year 2000. Noise annoyance was assessed by asking the respondents about noise annoyance from neighbours and traffic, respectively, in their home during the past two weeks. For people in multi-storey housing, neighbour noise annoyance was significantly higher than annoyance from traffic. The latest survey was performed in 2017; 3893 respondents living in multi-storey houses completed the self-administered questionnaire, 36% reported being very/slightly bothered by neighbour noise and 22% by traffic noise. Additional studies were carried out aiming at analyzing associations between neighbour noise annoyance and physical/mental health symptoms such as pain in various body parts, headache, fatigue, depression and anxiety and furthermore with getting enough sleep to feel rested. Noise annoyance from neighbours was strongly associated with all these health/sleep outcomes. Similar associations were observed for traffic noise. Although causality cannot be established in this cross-sectional study, it is concluded that neighbour noise annoyance is strongly associated with various physical/mental health symptoms and with not getting enough sleep to feel rested. The results highlight that health effects of neighbour noise might be as serious as for traffic noise and should have more attention.
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Acoustic regulations for hospital bedrooms Comparison between selected countries in Europe
Time: 11:20 am
Author: Birgit Rasmussen
Abstract ID: 2230
Regulatory acoustic requirements for hospitals exist in several countries in Europe, but many countries have either insufficient regulatory limits or only recommendations. The main purpose of limit values is to ensure optimal acoustic conditions for patients under treatment and for personnel for the various tasks taking place in many different rooms, e.g. bedrooms, examination and treatment rooms, corridors, stairwells, waiting and reception areas, canteens, offices, all with different acoustic needs. In addition, some rooms require special considerations like psychiatric rooms and noisy MR-scanning rooms. The extent of limit values varies considerably between countries. Some specify a few, others several criteria. The findings from a comparative study carried out in selected countries in various geographical parts of Europe show a diversity of acoustic descriptors and limit values. The paper includes examples of criteria for reverberation time, airborne and impact sound insulation, noise from traffic and from service equipment. The discrepancies between countries are discussed, aiming at potential learning and implementation of optimized limits for more room types. In addition to regulations or guidelines, some countries have hospitals included in national acoustic classification schemes with different acoustic quality levels. Indications of such classification criteria will be included in the paper.
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Interlaboratory and proficiency tests for buildings sound insulation field measurements in Brazil – 4th Edition 2020
Time: 3:20 pm
Author: Priscila da Silva Wunderlich
Abstract ID: 2824
Since 2013 ABNT NBR 15575:2013 entered into force in Brazil, a national technical standard that establishes acoustic requirements for dwellings, that can be verified by means of field measurements procedures performed according to specific ISO standards. Therefore, those requirements have fostered the acoustic field measurement market, and the number of laboratories has quickly increased across the county. ProAcústica - Brazilian Association for Acoustical Quality, a non-profit entity, aiming to improve the quality of the acoustics business in Brazil has organized in 2020 the fourth edition of the "Interlaboratory program of field measurements for building acoustics laboratories INTERLAB Program". This consists of a fundamental tool for acoustic field laboratories to evaluate and verify the quality of their measurement results. This paper presents the methodologies and procedures used in the interlaboratory program, as well as the results of both the interlaboratory test and the proficiency carried out in São Paulo (Brazil) during 2017 by ProAcústica - Brazilian Association for Acoustical Quality. In this edition a total number of 25 laboratories have participated (32% more participants than the last edition in 2017) for different type of field tests: airborne sound insulation, airborne facade sound insulation, impact sound level, sound pressure level from service equipment in buildings, and reverberation time). The main objectives are the evaluation of the precision of the field test methods in the Brazilian market, and the analysis of the performance of the participating laboratories as a quality control tool.
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An overview of room acoustics requirements in North American, nonresidential, building standards
Time: 12:20 pm
Author: Gary Madaras
Abstract ID: 2943
In the United States and elsewhere in North America, acoustics requirements for nonresidential buildings in Federal acts, codes, official standards and unofficial guidelines and rating systems tend to be voluntary, grass-roots and bottom-up instead of being mandatory, top-down or governmentally mandated. This relates to the governmental viewpoint that noise is merely a nuisance, not a health risk as viewed in other parts of the world. Existing requirements associated with noise control whether they are related to environmental/community noise, transmission of transportation noise through the building envelope or occupant noise through the interior construction assemblies or minimizing noise from building services are more prevalent in these standards. Requirements for good room acoustics related to sound absorption, speech intelligibility and distraction-free and comfortable interiors that promote human health and well-being are appearing in more standards and being updated to have more stringent values. Much improvement is still needed in older standards that do not have regular revision cycles and open, public, review periods. An overview of the types of room acoustics metrics used, their evolving values, advantages/disadvantages and the research behind them will be provided. Recommendations for future advancements will be offered.
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Brazilian BIM Objects Technical Standard: a first approach on Acoustics parameters
Time: 7:40 pm
Author: Paola Weitbrecht
Abstract ID: 3054
The Building Information Modeling (BIM) has increased worldwide as a new approach on the building design, construction, and facilities management. Given this panorama, the Brazilian Government enforced a regulation in 2019, Decreto 9983, which outlines a roadmap for the BIM implementation in the Brazilian construction ecosystem. As one of its guidelines is to publish the necessary technical standards, a special committee, ABNT CEE 134, was hosted at the Brazilian organization for Technical Standardization with a dedicated WG for establishing BIM objects parameters. In the framework of the WG, a subgroup on Acoustics analysis aimed to deal on how to incorporate acoustic requirements to the BIM Object. In this paper, the authors describe the development of this feature, unprecedented so far. The approach adopted for incorporating acoustic requirements into BIM objects at the Brazilian BIM Standard aimed to facilitate the workflow of acoustic consulting, while adapting it to the limitations imposed by the existing software and the construction market culture in Brazil. This paper also provides some guidelines on how this issue could be addressed in future standards revisions.
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The Brazilian performance standard revision. Sumary and next steps
Time: 8:00 pm
Author: Marcos Holtz
Abstract ID: 3063
In 2019, the Brazilian Standard NBR 15575: 2013 start a periodical revision process. This standard presents performance criteria for dwellings, such as acoustic, thermal, lighting, durability, etc. During this first enforcement period, some requirements result in divergent interpretations, e.g. difficulties to define the noise class, proposed as a subjective criteria. Technical groups were created to analyze the current text and propose modifications to solve these issues. This article presents an overview of the mains issues related to the acoustic requirements found in the standard. A summary of the proposals is presented, which went through a national ballot.
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Impact sound transmission: experiments of control at the receiver room
Time: 8:20 pm
Author: Davi Akkerman
Abstract ID: 3169
Considering Impact sound level requirements accomplishment in Brazil, floating floors are still considered as an inviable solution for building companies due to the implications in the total cost of building, mainly for social housing. Alternative and sometimes cheaper solutions are those undertaken in the receiver room. However, the lack of laboratory and field tests on the acoustic performance of this type of system is still a barrier for acoustic designing in Brazil. The aim of this paper is to study and validate different constructive solutions developed jointly with building companies for improving the impact sound insulation performance on the receiving room of new Brazilian housing constructions.
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A proposal for standard methods and criteria for the assessment of residential noise complaints
Time: 8:40 pm
Author: Mihkel Toome
Abstract ID: 3236
Acoustical consultants often receive inquiries regarding noise complaints, particularly from occupants of multi-unit residential buildings. The noise complaints are typically regarding building services noise, other transient noises caused by the building or building elements, or due to noise from neighbours. While guidelines with respect to acceptable noise intrusion and levels for some sources exist, often the guideline criteria are not applicable, and the assessment must be based on proposed criteria by the acoustical consultant. This can leave uncertainty and ambiguity in terms of what is and what is not a valid noise complaint. The development of a standard procedure and criteria for the assessment of noise complaints would be a significant undertaking, but would be invaluable to acoustical engineers, multi-unit residential strata/condominium/co-op board members, property management, and the general public. This paper reviews relevant literature, outlines the major components for consideration in the development of a standard procedure and criteria, and will put forth a recommended framework for a standard approach.
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