ACOUSTICAL DESIGN

IN BUILDINGS
Group 11
THE PURPOSE OF ACOUSTICAL
DESIGN IN BUILDINGS

❏ To reduce noise and effectively control sound in buildings

❏ To improve quality of sound within a given space
❏ To help improve the well-being and health of building occupants
Generally, the designer would consider the
following elements:
❏ Surrounding environment ❏ Isolation of vibration
❏ Arrangement and layout of rooms ❏ Isolation of impact
❏ Shape of rooms ❏ Isolation of sound
❏ Reflecting surface ❏ Background noise
SURROUNDING
ENVIRONMENT
1) Ponder on the building’s proposed location.
2) Deal with the external noise.
with natural topography and vegetation
with high walls or another building
3) Orient the
building away from
the noise as much
as possible.
4) Consider the
placement of
openings
present in the
entire building.
ARRANGEMENT AND
LAYOUT OF ROOMS
1) Distance noisy rooms from quiet rooms as much as
possible.
Try to equal out noise levels of one area and another.
3) Utilize buffers when designing room areas.
4) Noise can travel through air paths between rooms.
SHAPE OF ROOMS
Reverberation is the prolongation of sound. It is also known as sound reflection or echoing.

To minimize reverberation, avoid designing:

❏ Long and narrow rooms

❏ Corridors with high ceilings
❏ Cubical rooms
Concave surfaces tend to focus sound and cause
sound distortion.
ex. large auditoriums with low ceilings

➔ Avoid sound distortion by utilizing splayed areas in order diffuse the

reflection of sound and to direct the sound as desired.
REFLECTING
SURFACES
Absorbing surfaces:

- All walls, floors, ceilings, and - Acoustic absorption is the process by

furnishings have sound-absorbing which sound energy is dissipated and
characteristics that control the amount transformed into another form of
of sound they reflect and absorb. If the energy: heat, mechanical, or
surfaces in a room tend to be highly deformation.
reflective, the room will seem loud, and
it may have a slight echo.
- The highly reflective qualities of a room
can be controlled by using materials
with a high NRC
● Sound-absorbing materials will
absorb most of the sound energy that
collides with them and will reflect
very little. These qualities make them
useful in the control of noise within a
space or enclosure.

Examples of Sound - absorbing materials: Examples of Materials used as sound

absorbers:
➢ Porous Absorbers
➢ Membrane/Plate absorbers ➢ Cushion and pillows
➢ Resonate/Resonance absorbers ➢ Wall Hangings
➢ Carpets and rug areas
➢ Curtain and Blankets
➢ Acoustic Foam panels
Focusing Surfaces:
- A flat surface (i.e., a wall) reflects sound better than an irregular surface, which
tends to break up sound waves. Reflection from large concave surfaces also
focuses sound. Sounds near the focus of a curved surface may be heard too
loudly.

- In auditoriums, theatres, church sanctuaries, and classrooms, sound is more

pleasing if it is evenly dispersed.This is achieved by avoid any focusing surface
and flat surface.

- Rough walls tend to diffuse sound, reflecting it in a

variety of directions. This allows a spectator to perceive sounds from every part
of the room, making it seem lively and full. For this reason, auditorium and
concert hall designers prefer construction materials that are rough rather than
smooth.
ISOLATION OF
VIBRATION
Soft, resilient
Noisy and subfloor
Vibrating equipments materials
should aretoused
not be attached under the
the structure.
equipments to reduce the transfer of vibration to the structure.
 Equipment located in the basement of the building may be placed on resilient mounts and a
concrete pad that us isolated, by expansion joints, from the floor (Discontinuous construction).
Water Pipes should be provided with expansion valves, expansion tanks, and air chambers to reduce
water hammering and knocking. Noises from expansion and contraction of the water pipes can be
controlled by installing expansion joints.
ISOLATION OF
IMPACT
● Impact sound ● Impact noise is controlled
- A sound caused when by:
one object strikes
another.
❖ Using absorptive materials
Example: ❖ Isolating the noise sources
❖ Footsteps ❖ Reducing flanking
❖ Falling objects
❖ hammering
● Isolation may be accomplished by separating the surface that
will receive the impact from the structure supporting it.

1. Floors may be isolated from the structure by using resilient

subflooring and underlayment materials.
2. Walls may be isolated from the structure by mounting the finish
materials on resilient channels
3. The ceilings and walls in the surrounding spaces may also be
mounted on resilient channels
ISOLATION OF
SOUND
ISOLATION OF SOUND

The amount of airborne sound transmitted between rooms

will depend on the materials and methods used in the
construction. Sound transmission through walls depends on
the mass of the walls and on their inelasticity. Massive, thick
walls provide excellent sound barriers, but economically there
is a point of diminishing returns. Therefore, mass alone is not
an economical solution for isolating sound.
SOUND CONTROL METHODS

● Building frame walls with staggered

studs and with blanket sound insulation
between the outer wall surfaces is a
good method of sound control.

● Another control method involves the

use of resilient channels to mount the
wall-covering surface, thus dissipating
the sound energy in the channels.
These methods also have their
practical limitations.
● Slightly more effective is the building of two separate
walls with no structural connections between them.
Flanking Sound Path
is a sound transmission path that bypasses a transmission
barrier. It is a route through which sound may easily travel
through a wall or ceiling assembly.

Openings in doors, windows, and electrical outlets create good

flanking sound paths. Rigidly connected electrical conduit,
pipes, and air ducts are additional examples of flanking paths.
Airborne sound passing through a flanking path can
significantly diminish an assembly’s sound isolation capability.
The weak point of sound isolation in the building envelope is
frequently the windows and doors. Double glazing will afford
noticeably better protection than single glazing. In areas of
high external noise it might be preferable to have double
windows with a large air gap and acoustic absorbent
material on the perimeter reveal around that gap. Doors
also typically represent a serious weakness in a good wall.
Acceptable levels of background noise range from 25 to
35 dBA in bedrooms; 30 to 40 dBA in living rooms, offices,
and conference rooms; and 35 to 45 dBA in large offices,
reception areas, and secretarial areas. When acceptable
levels of background sound is combined with effective
transmission ratings for walls and floors, it is possible to
tolerate relatively high surrounding noise levels.
BACKGROUND
NOISE
Sound Masking is ambient background sound engineered to
match the frequency of human speech for greater speech privacy.

➔ Adding sound to a space

seem quieter. It sounds
counter-intuitive but it’s true.
This is because the added
sound reduces the intelligibility
of human speech.
Active noise control (also
Noise Cancellation) electronically
alters an incoming sound wave to
minimize or eliminate it altogether.

➔ With sound cancellation the sound wave is

picked up by a microphone, analyzed by a
microprocessor, and wave broadcast a
mirror image frequency, thus flattening out
the wave and cancelling out much or all the
sound.
This concludes our report. Thank you for listening.

Group Members
Cabanda, LeVan Karlo
Hofileña, Johanna
Justiniani, Kian Justine
Mana-ay, Marq Zion
Manalo, Resty John
Pejera, June Rio
Valdez, Thea Agnes