Sound insulation between dwellings – Requirements in building regulations in Europe

Abstract In most countries in Europe, building regulations specify sound insulation requirements for dwellings. The requirements are expressed by descriptors defined in standards. Within building acoustics, ISO standards are implemented as European (EN) standards and national standards. Sufficient sound insulation between dwellings is important to protect against noise from neighbours and to provide privacy and possibilities for activities without causing annoyance. In 2008 a comparative study investigating the legal requirements for sound insulation between dwellings was carried out. This paper is a result of that study and describes and discusses the main requirements for airborne and impact sound insulation in 24 countries in Europe. The comparison shows considerable differences in terms of descriptors, frequency range and level of requirements. It is concluded that regulatory sound insulation requirements need tightening in some countries. As a starting point for further discussion, suggestions for airborne and impact sound insulation criteria providing “standard” and “increased” comfort are given. While tightening regulations implies a growing need for exchange of information and experience, the diversity in Europe creates difficulties for efficient cooperation, and harmonization of descriptors is needed. The benefits of harmonizing descriptors include facilitating the exchange of construction data, design details and development of design tools. Based on experience, legal requirements and classification criteria could be adjusted and optimized. It is proposed to establish cooperation in Europe and to prepare an “acoustical” housing directive with a related strategy paper “Research for quieter European homes in 2020” in the same way as with European initiatives for environmental noise. The noise issue has also received increasing attention from WHO. In a large analysis of European housing coordinated by WHO, neighbour noise was identified as a health problem, and reduction of noise exposure in the home was included in the proposed main objectives for a housing policy. This paper is one of two related papers about sound insulation of dwellings, dealing with requirements and descriptors in building regulations in Europe. This paper focuses on requirements, the other paper, [1] , focuses on descriptors for requirements, including suitability considerations, one of them being the correlation with subjective evaluation.