arrow_back_ios

Main Menu

See All Acoustic End-of-Line Test Systems See All DAQ and instruments See All Electroacoustics See All Software See All Transducers See All Vibration Testing Equipment See All Academy See All Resource Center See All Applications See All Industries See All Insights See All Services See All Support See All Our Business See All Our History See All Our Sustainability Commitment See All Global Presence
arrow_back_ios

Main Menu

See All Actuators See All Combustion Engines See All Durability See All eDrive See All Production Testing Sensors See All Transmission & Gearboxes See All Turbo Charger See All DAQ Systems See All High Precision and Calibration Systems See All Industrial electronics See All Power Analyser See All S&V Hand-held devices See All S&V Signal conditioner See All Test Solutions See All DAQ Software See All Drivers & API See All nCode - Durability and Fatigue Analysis See All ReliaSoft - Reliability Analysis and Management See All Test Data Management See All Utility See All Vibration Control See All Acoustic See All Current / voltage See All Displacement See All Load Cells See All Pressure See All Strain Gauges See All Torque See All Vibration See All Power Amplifiers See All LDS Shaker Systems See All Vibration Controllers See All Accessories for Vibration Testing Equipment See All Training Courses See All Articles See All Acoustics See All Asset & Process Monitoring See All Custom Sensors See All Data Acquisition & Analysis See All Durability & Fatigue See All Electric Power Testing See All NVH See All Reliability See All Smart Sensors See All Vibration See All Weighing See All Automotive & Ground Transportation See All Calibration See All Installation, Maintenance & Repair See All Support Brüel & Kjær See All Release Notes See All Compliance See All Our People
arrow_back_ios

Main Menu

See All CANHEAD See All GenHS See All LAN-XI See All MGCplus See All Optical Interrogators See All QuantumX See All SomatXR See All Accessories See All BK Connect / Pulse See All API See All Microphone Sets See All Microphone Cartridges See All Acoustic Calibrators See All Special Microphones See All Microphone Pre-amplifiers See All Sound Sources See All Accessories for acoustic transducers See All Experimental testing See All Transducer Manufacturing (OEM) See All Accessories See All Non-rotating (calibration) See All Rotating See All CCLD (IEPE) accelerometers See All Charge Accelerometers See All Impulse hammers / impedance heads See All Accessories See All Electroacoustics See All Noise Source Identification See All Environmental Noise See All Sound Power and Sound Pressure See All Noise Certification See All Industrial Process Control See All Structural Health Monitoring See All Electrical Devices Testing See All Electrical Systems Testing See All Grid Testing See All High-Voltage Testing See All Vibration Testing with Electrodynamic Shakers See All Structural Dynamics See All Machine Analysis and Diagnostics See All Dynamic Weighing See All Calibration Services for Transducers See All Calibration Services for Handheld Instruments See All Calibration Services for Instruments & DAQ See All On-Site Calibration See All Resources See All Software License Management

Table of content

Acoustic Camera

What is Building Acoustics?

Building acoustics is the science of sound transmission from one dwelling or room to another, and how to measure and quantify how much sound is transmitted. Building acoustics has two main types of noise: airborne sound (music or voices) and impact sound (footsteps in adjoining apartments). Although much of the sound that is transmitted from one apartment to another is due to transmission of airborne sound through the wall, a significant amount of sound is also transmitted indirectly via the building structure.

Building regulations stipulate how much sound insulation there should be between adjoining apartments and terraced housing. Sound insulation is a function of the building partition and not the room. Particularly for new buildings, building acoustics measurements are performed to confirm that regulations are met. These measurements quite simply measure how much sound is transmitted from one room to another, from the source room with the noise, to the receiving room.

The figure below illustrates a measurement of airborne sound insulation, which in in simple terms, is the difference in noise levels between the source room with the noise and the receiving room.

Measurement setup

Equipment for measuring acoustics

Measuring building acoustics requires specialized equipment, the main components being:

Let’s now take a closer look at the loudspeakers used for building acoustics.

What is an Omnidirectional Sound Source?

The loudspeakers that are used for building acoustics look nothing like the ones you use in your home music system. The standards that define how building acoustics measurements are made, specify the use of an omnidirectional loudspeaker.

Whereas your music system’s loudspeakers send sound primarily in the direction of the listening position, an omnidirectional loudspeaker radiates noise equally in all directions. The requirement for omnidirectionality is usually fulfilled by having 12 loudspeakers evenly arranged in a dodecahedral pattern, hence the term dodecahedral loudspeaker is sometimes used to describe the sound source.

The omnidirectional loudspeaker is designed to quickly fill the source room with what approximates to a diffuse sound field, that is, where sound pressure is the same everywhere in the room and the sound waves reach the observer from all directions. In theory, if a sound field was perfectly diffuse, then it wouldn’t matter where the microphone was placed, it would measure the same sound pressure level.

In practical measurement situations, a sound field will never be perfectly diffuse and for this reason, standards require the averaging of multiple measurement positions per room.

Loudspeaker Requirements

There are many omnidirectional loudspeakers from different manufacturers on the market. Although outwardly they look similar, it is important to read and understand the technical specifications, as performance varies in respect of the primary features (related to measurement quality) and the secondary features (related to ergonomics).

 

OmniPower Sound Source
OmniPower-Type-4292

The primary features of a sound source used for building acoustics are defined by the ISO 16283-1 standard. When used for room acoustics, the ISO 3382-1 standard defines the requirements.

  • Directivity: Sound should be radiated equally from the sound source in all directions, that is, the loudspeaker should be omnidirectional. The degree of directionality is defined by the standards and is the function of the loudspeaker alone and not influenced by the properties of the source room
  • Spectrum: Even though sound insulation measurements are a difference measurement, the standards stipulate that the difference between adjacent 1/3-octave bands is a maximum 6 dB. The frequency response of the room will influence the result, so this requirement is really to the measurement and not the equipment. In short, the objective is to have the flattest possible source room signal to perform the measurements
  • Sound power level: The sound power output of the loudspeaker should be sufficiently high for the sound pressure level in the receiving room to be significantly above the background noise level. This requirement is a function of both the loudspeaker and the power amplifier that drives it. Typically, a good quality omnidirectional loudspeaker for building acoustics will generate 100 dB per band (that is, very loud)
  • Level stability: To be suitable for building acoustics measurements, the sound power shouldn’t change significantly as a function of time. As the loudspeaker heats up, the ‘compression’ effect will decrease sound levels, this effect should be compensated for, so the level drop is less than 0.2 dB/min.
slm-icon-3-2245
FROM SIMPLE TO ADVANCED
SOUND LEVEL METERS  & VIBRATION METERS

The secondary features are purely related to ergonomics such as size and weight. Although secondary in themselves, when one remembers that building acoustics are usually carried out by one person, the weight and carrying solution of the equipment can become significant in a long measurement job, particularly in new apartment blocks where the elevators are not yet in use.

Performing building acoustics measurements is a skilled job. The technician carrying out the measurements needs to be trained and familiar with his local legislation. He also needs the proper specialized equipment including a fully compliant omnidirectional sound source.

Equipped with specialized knowledge and the proper equipment, you will have the best platform for objectively measuring sound insulation between any two rooms - and compare it to the applicable building regulations.