Christian Simmons

Uncertainty of in situ low frequency reverberation time measurements from 20 Hz - An empirical study

Measuring reverberation time is normally one of the steps within the procedure of determining sound insulation in dwellings where 100 or 50 Hz usually serves as the lower frequency limit. However, ...

A Handbook on the Management of Acoustic Issues During the Building Process

A new handbook has been published by the Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning. This handbook describes the building process from an acoustical point of view. It focuses on the conversion of functional requirements on the performance of the building to appropriate designs of a building. This type of requirement allows all kinds of solutions to be applied, but is also requires coordination of acoustic issues between the parties involved during the entire building process. Hence, the handbook addresses detailed information to each party. Functional requirements and acoustic issues are complex by nature, because they affect many building elements, they are handled by several parties and they must be considered during several phases of the building process. Typical errors come from building designs (floor plans), product designs (input data of elements), calculation models, quality of workmanship (during the construction phase) and uncertainties in field measurements. The aim is to help the commissioner manage the responsibility for these issues. The handbook also covers a large field of practical applications to support the acoustic expertise. It is expected that this handbook will encourage developers and contractors to deal with acoustic issues more efficiently. If the noise environment is not considered in the design process for new residential areas and other building facilities, the satisfaction of tenants, the health costs for the society and the building values will be affected. If verifications are made only at a late stage of the building process, errors are normally discovered too late. They are then expensive to correct for and it is difficult to find out who is responsible. When the verifications are made effectively during the process, costs are minimized.