ACOUSTICS

ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS ENCOMPAASSES TWO TYPES OF SOUND CONTROL:

1. THE ACOUSTICAL ENVIRONMENT WITHIN A ROOM: POSITIONING SOUND SOURCES WITH RESPECT TO
THE LISTENERS, AND ARRANGING APPROPRIATE ABSORPTIVITY OR REFLECTIVITYLEVELS FOR ALL
INTERIOR SURFACES
2. ISOLATION OF UNWANTED SOUNDS: INSULATING BUILDINGS OCCUBANTS FROM INTRUSIVE NOISE. IN
SOME SPACES A CONTINOUSE LOW BACKGROUND NOICE LEVEL IS DESIRABLE FOR MASKING
DISTRACTING SOUNDS.

ACOUSTICS - IS A BRANCH OF PHYSICS CONCERNED WITH SOUND.

NOISE - ANY SOUND THAT IS OBJECTIONABLE OR NOT DESIRED.

ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS - THE EFFECT OF BUILDING DESIGN ON THE CONTROL OF SOUND IN BUILDINGS;
APPRECIATION OF THYE NATURE OF SOUND AND THE PRINCIPLES OF ACOUSTICS TO CREATE A SATISFACTORY
ACOUSTICAL ENVIRONMENT.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. ENGINEER – KEEP THE SOUND FROM MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT AT AN ACCEPTABLE LEVEL

2. MANUFACTURER - DESIGNING MACHINERY FOR QUITE OPERATION
3. ARCHITECTURAL CONSULTANT – CAN POINT OUT POSSIBLE SOLUTION TO PROVIDE SATISFACTORY NOISE
CONTROL
4. ARCHITECT – RECOGNIZE A POTENTIAL NOISE PROBLEM IN A PROPOSED BUILDING AND TAKE STEPS TO
SOLVE IT. ACOUSTICAL DEFECT THAT APPEARS IN THE COMPLETED BUILDING CONNOT BE READILY
CORRECTED, RESULTING IN AN INADEQUATE ACOUSTICAL QUALITY. UTILIZING THE ADVISE OF AN
ARCHITECTURAL CONSULTANT, THE ARCHITECT COORDINATES WHAT ACCOUSTICAL SOLUTION CAN BE
INTEGRATED WITH THE SOLUTION TO THE OTHER DEMANDS MADE ON THE BUILDINGS

THREE ASPECTS OF ACOUSTICAL DESIGN OF BUILDINGS

1. PLANNING TO KEEP NOISE SOURCES AS FAR AS POSSIBLE FROM QUIET AREAS.

2. THE INTERNAL ACOUSTICS OF ROOMS
3. STRUCTURAL PRECAUTIONS TO REDUCE NOISE PENETRATION

DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE ACOUSTICAL ASPECTS OF DESIGN:

 DETAILED ANALYSIS OF THE DESIGN PURPOSE OF THE STRUCTURE (PLANNED USAGE OF ALL INDIVIDUAL
SPACES SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED BEFORE AN ACOUSTICAL PLAN IS ESTABLISHED)
 VISUALIZE THE OVERALL BUILDING DESIGN AND FUNCTION IN TERMS OF ACOUSTICAL QUALITIES
 COMPARE COST AND COORDINATE THE WORK OF ALL TRADES TO COME UP WITH THE MOST COST-
EFFECTIVE COMBINATION OF MODIFIED SOUND SOURCES AND ACOUSTICAL TREATMENT
 ANY DECISION AFFECTING BOTH ACOUSTICS AND OTHER ARCHITECTURAL REQUIRMENTS MUST BE MADE
BY THE ARCHITECT
BASIC ACOUSTICS

WHAT IS SOUND?

SOUND IS PRODUCED BY VIBRATING OBJECTS AND REACHES THE LISTENERS EAR AS WAVES IN THE AIR OR OTHER
MEDIA. WHEN AN OBJECT VIBRATE IT CREATES SLIGHT CHANGES IN AIR PRESSURE. THESE AIR PRESSURE CHANGES
TRAVEL THROUGH AIR AND PRODUCE SOUND.

APPROXIMATE SPEED OF SOUND IN COMMON MATERIALS

MEDIUM SOUND VELOCITY (FT/S) M/S

AIR,DRY (0C AND 0.76 MM Hg) 1,100 330

WOOD (SOFT-ALING THE FIBER) 11,100 3400

WATER (15C) 4,700 1400

CONCRETE 10,200 3100

STEEL 16,000 5000

LEAD 3,700 1200

GLASS 18,500 5500

HYDROGEN (0C AND 0.76M) 4,100 1260

WHAT IS SOUND WAVE?

SOUND IS TRANSMITTED VIA THE MOVEMENT OF THE PARTICLES IN A MEDIUM, SUCH AS AIR OR WATER. ENERGY
IS TRANSFERRED FROM ONE REGION TO ANOTHER VIA A SERIES OF COMPRESSION AND TENSION CYCLES: THE
MOTION OF THE PARTICLES IS PARALLEL TO THE PROPAGATION DIRECTION. THE ACOUSTICAL DISTURBANCE CAN
BE REPRESENTED AS A WAVE, WITH THE X AXIS REPRESENTING TIME AND THE Y AXIS THE DISPLACEMENT OF A
GIVEN PARTICLE IN THE MEDIUM FROM ITS REST POSITION.

INCREASING THE STHRENTH OF THE SOUND SOURCE EXTENDSTHE DISPLACEMENT OF THE PARTICLES, AND SO THE
ACOUSTIC PRESSURE WILL ALSO INCREASE. THIS IS HEARD AS AN INCRESE IN LOUDNESS.

EXCITING THE SOUND MORE RAPIDLY INCREASES THE FREQUENCY OF THE SOUND AND PRODUCES MORE CYCLES
IN A GIVEN PERIOD.
TWO BASIC QUALITIES THAT CAN DESCRIBE THE NATURE OF SOUND ARE FREQUENCY AND AMPLITUDE (OF
DISPLACEMENT OR ACOUSTIC PRESSURE). SOUND CAN BE FORMED BY A SIMPLE HARMONIC MIXTURE OF
FREQUENCIES( AS PRODUCED BY A GUITAR STRING) AN INTENTIONAL MIXTURE OF FREQUNCIES AND AMPLITUDE
(MUSIC) OR A SEEMINGLY RANDOM MIXTURE (NOISE)

WHAT ARE PITCH AND FREQUENCY?

FREQUENCY IS THE RATE AT WHICH THE SOURCE PRODUCES SOUND WAVES (COMPLETE CYCLE OF HIGH AND LOW
PRESSURE REGION) IN OTHER WORDS, FREQUENCY IS THE NUMBER OF TIMES PER SECOND THAT A VIBRATING
BODY COMPLETES ONE CYCLE OF MOTION. THE UNIT FOR FREQUNCY IS THE HERTZ (Hz = 1 CYCLE PER SECOND)
LOW PITCHED OR BASS SOUNDS HAVE LOW FREQUENCY. HIGH- PITCHED OR TRBLE SOUND HAVE HIGH
FREQUENCIES. A HEALTY YOUNG PERSON CAN HEAR SOUNDS WITH FREQUENCIES FROM ROUGHLY 20 TO 20,000
Hz. THE UPPER FREQUNCY LIMITS DECREASE WITH AGE, AND SO THE OLDER THE PERSON GETS, THE LESS WELL
THEY CAN HEAR HIGH NOTES. ALSO THE MALE HEARING RANGE DECREASES MORE QUICKLY THAN THE FEMALE,
AND SO WOMEN CAN GENARALLY HEAR HIGHER PITCH NOTES THAN MEN IN SIMILAR AGE. THE SOUND OF
HUMAN SPEACH IS MAINLY THE RANGE OF 300 TO 3000Hz.

PITCH IS THE TERM USED BY MUSICIANS FOR FREQUENCY.

PITCH IS DETERMIND BY HOW MANY TIMES A SOUND WAVE REPEATS ITSELF WITHIN ONE SECOND OF TIME.

 EACH REPITITION OF A WAVEFORM IS CALLED CYCLE

 THE NUMBER OF REPITITONS THQAT OCCUR PER SECOND IS CALLED THE FREQUENCY
 FREQUENCY IS MEASURED AS cps = CYCLE PER NSECOND OR IN Hz CALLED HERTZ “ FROM THE NAME OF
HEINRICH HERTZ, A GERMAN SCIENTIST WHO PIONEERED WORK IN ELECTROMAGNETIOC WAVES DURING
THE 19TH CENTURY”.
WHAT IS DESIBLE (Db)?
THE DECIBL SCALE IS A LOGARITHMIC SCALE APPLICABLE TO ANY PARAMETER. IN THE MEASUREMENT OF SOUND,
WE ARE CONCERNED WITH THE AMPLITUDE OF THE ACOUSTIC PRESSURE, MEASURED IN PASCALS (Pa). THE
RANGE OF ACOUSTIC PRESSURES THAT THE HUMAN EAR CAN DETECT IS VERY WIDE- FROM LOWER LIMIT OF
HEARING AT AROUND 20 MICRO Pa (2 X 10-5 PA) TO THE TRESHOLD OF PAIN AT AROUND 20Pa. THIS VERY WIDE
OF RANGE OF VALUES IS TUNWIELDY, SO IT IS CONVERTED INTO LOGARITHMIC SCALE. THIS CHANGES THE RANGE
OF VALUES TO THE MORE MANAGABLE RANGE OF 0 Db IS ROUGHLY THE LOWEST LEVEL A NORMAL PERSON CAN
HEAR. BUT IT IS NOT THE LOWEST NUMBER POSSIBLE.

ACOUSTICIANS USE Db SCALE FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS:

1) QUANTITIES OF INTEREST OFTEN EXHIBIT SUCH HUGE RANGES OF VARIATION THAT A Db SCALE IS MORE
CONVENIENT. THAN A LINEAR SCALE
2) THE HUMAN EAR INTERPRETES LOUDNES ON A SCALE MUCH CLOSER TO A LOGARITHMIC SCALE THAN A
LINEAR SCALE
HOW IS SOUND MEASURED?
THE MEASUREMENT OF SOUND DETERMINES HOW LOUD ASOMETHING IS, WHETHER IT IS TOO NOISY OR EVEN
WHETHER IT IS SAFE TO BE NEAR. A SOUIND LEVEL METER IS THE PRINCIPAL INSTRUMENT FOR GENERAL NOISE
MEASUREMENT.

WHAT DOES dB(a) OR “ A-WIEGHTED” MEAN?

A-WEIGHTED DECIBELS, ABBREVIATED DBA, OR DBA, OR DB(A), ARE AN EXPRESSION OF THE RELATIVE LOUDNESS
OF SOUNDS IN AIR AS PERCEIVED BY THE HUMAN EAR. IN THE A-WEIGHTED SYSTEM, THE DECIBEL VALUES OF
SOUNDS AT LOW FREQUENCIES ARE REDUCED, COMPARED WITH UNWEIGHTED DECIBELS, IN WHICH NO
CORRECTION IS MADE FOR AUDIO FREQUENCY. THIS CORRECTION IS MADE BECAUSE THE HUMAN EAR IS LESS
SENSITIVE AT LOW AUDIO FREQUENCIES, ESPECIALLY BELOW 1000 HZ, THAN AT HIGH AUDIO FREQUENCIES

AT WHAT LEVEL DOES SOUND BECOME UNSAFE?

AVOID ANY UNPROTECTED EXPOSURE TO SOUND PRESSURE LEVELS ABOVE 100 Db(A). USE HEARING
PROTECTIONS WHEN EXPOSED TO LEVELS ABOVE 85 Db(A), ESPECIALLY IF PROLONGED EXPOSURE IS EXPECTED.
DAMAGE TO HEARING FROM LOUD NOISE IS CUMULATIVE AND IS IRREVERSABLE.