Swiss pendling hammer for decoupling measurement of Swiss methodology for decoupling measurement of service equipment in buildings

The latest edition of the Swiss standard SIA181(2006) Protection against noise in Buildings [1], introduces a new methodology regarding the tests to be performed in new constructions for noise induced by human using service equipment in bathroom and kitchen. In this method, a specific pendling hammer has been developed especially for evaluating the decoupling efficiency of service equipment. The goals for this work are to determine the advantages and the limitations of method especially for lightweight constructions. For example, in some cases the airborne contribution of the pendling hammer noise can become critical and leads to an overestimation of the uncoupling. This project should also identify the main propagation paths for equipment noise. A large number of in-situ measurements have been done for various building constructions and services equipment in Swiss and Swedish constructions. Some additional laboratories investigations have been conducted to optimize the decoupling of service equipment to fulfill the Swiss requirements.