Subjective and Objective Evaluation of Impact Noise Sources in Wooden Buildings

Multi-storey timber buildings up to 6 and more floors are increasingly built in many European countries. The challenge with these buildings can be that with traditional intermediate floor constructions in timber it can be difficult to fulfill the standard requirements and even when they are met, low frequency transmission can still cause complaints. Additionally it is difficult to develop appropriate light weight floor constructions since it is well known that the correlation between the standardized evaluation methods using the tapping machine and the human perception of impact noise can be poor, especially in buildings with light weight structures. In the AcuWood project, measurements and recordings on different intermediate timber floor constructions in the laboratory and the field were performed covering a wide range of modern intermediate timber floor constructions. Additionally, one intermediate concrete floor with different floor coverings was included in the study. Besides the standardized tapping machine, the modified tapping machine and the Japanese rubber ball and “real” sources were employed. Subjective ratings from listening tests were correlated to many technical single number descriptors including the standardized descriptors and non-standardized proposals. It was found that the Japanese rubber ball represents walking noise in its characteristics and spectrum best, taking into account the practical requirement of a strong enough excitation for building measurements. The standardized tapping machine, with an appropriate single number descriptor, L′nT,w + CI,50-2500 or slightly better, L′nT,w Hagberg 03, leads also to an acceptably high determination coefficient between the descriptor and the subjective ratings. Additionally, the study delivered data, from which proposals for requirements for the suggested single number ratings are deduced, based on the subjective ratings.