Renfrewshire Housing Development

Our role in the project.

As the flats were already built, the issue arose from resident complaints about noise intrusion from the floor above. We were involved as an independent body to test the sound insulation of the floors against Scottish Building Standards.

We measured the levels of sound insulation in two ways:

Airborne Sound Testing: Used to measure the sound insulation properties of walls and floors, airborne sound testing uses a controlled noise which is then measured in the source room and receiver room. An initial test in the source room is compared with another test in the receiver room.

Afterwards, background noise is generated from the speaker to imitate the normal external sound conditions such as traffic noise. The reverberation time is also measured.

The difference between the two airborne noise levels, corrected for background noise and reverberation determines the airborne sound insulation performance.

Impact Sound Testing: Usually used to measure the performance of floors, impact sound testing uses a tapping machine that is placed in the source room. The tapping machine emits a known force on the floor at regular intervals.

Measurements are made in the source and receiver room and adjusted for expected background noise and reverberation time. Using this information, we determine the effectiveness of the floor sound insulation. 

The goal of the sound insulation testing was to measure compliance against Section 5 of the Scottish Building Standards.

Specific considerations

The flats were already occupied. Therefore, we had to work with the occupants to help facilitate the tests.

Acoustic features of this project

We were purely engaged to provide sound testing and report back the results.

Due to our advantageous position of having offices in England and Scotland, Adnitt Acoustics is well placed to respond swiftly to projects such as this. Within days of being instructed to go ahead, we were inside the building and measuring sound levels.

After the testing stage we swiftly reported our results to our client who was able to use these results in the subsequent discussions with the residents.

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