Ecophon Acoustic Bulletin

The Finnish Standards Association published end of 2004 a new standard on acoustics in buildings. SFS 5907 (”Acoustic Classification of Buildings”) can be referred to when expressing acoustics requirements for most types of buildings.

The standard is also meant to be an education tool in acoustics for architects and clients.

Besides acousticians’ experience, the guide-lines and target values presented in SFS 5907 are based on new research findings from Finland and abroad.
As a general rule, it divides buildings and premises into four acoustic classes (A, B, C and D). Buildings in classes A and B are better than the ordinary in terms of their acoustics, class C corresponds to the minimum level, while class D is intended for old buildings only.

Standard highlight

- wide range of premises: educational premises, day care centre, health care premises, offices, factories, elderly homes, dwellings
- four sound quality classes (A, B, C and D) are proposed, where C corresponds to mandatory requirements according to Finnish Building Code. A would stand for "excellent", B for "good" and D for "in exceptional conditions". Class D applies for offices and factories only.
- stringent room acoustics requirements (see below)
- extensive appendix (acoustic design advices, drawings, connection to EN ISO 11 654, etc)

To purchase English version of SFS 5907

Posted by at 2:21 PM | Permalink

The new Swedish Work Environment Authority’s Statute Book on Noise (AFS Buller, 2005:16) has recently been published, and will be valid starting 1st July 2005.
The Statute Book aims at supporting the new EU legislation on noise exposure of workers (2003/10/EG).
One of the main new items is that disturbing speech from others can be a problem.

The issue regards premises like open plan offices or any other kind of large open workspaces. In particular, it applies to people sitting close to each other, without having permanent benefit of hearing each other. If no adjacent room for concentrated task is at hand, there is a risk that employees are trying to perform tasks which might be disturbed by speech from surrounding workstations. As known from previous research, the level of disturbance will depend on the task at hand. “The more complex task, such as tasks involving the processing of speech or written information, the more sensitive” it says.
Further, the new guidelines consider that noise from speech is generally perceived as more disturbing since it varies in such a way that it is not predictable or controllable for the person exposed. Unwanted speech is disturbing, independently of the level; as soon as it can be perceived as speech, it will be disturbing.

AFS 2005:16 comprises two parts:

Statute Book on Noise itself, which is mandatory
General recommendations for the application of the Satute Book

Whole document available in Swedish (so far) at:

http://www.av.se/dokument/afs/afs2005_16.pdf

Posted by Fredrik at 11:13 AM | Permalink

Educational premises have more and more problems with the acoustical working environment. The present study analysed the problems in four elementary schools and one secondary school. In these schools several classrooms (N=30) were analysed for reverberation time and speech transmission index. Additionally the sound pressure level (SPL) was monitored for 565 lessons. In addition all activities, relevant for noise, were registered by two observers inside the classrooms. The project was funded by the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Germany (Dortmund/Berlin/Dresden). Bremen University conducted the study itself.

Read more

Posted by Fredrik at 11:20 AM | Permalink

The Finnish Standards Association published end of 2004 a new standard on acoustics in buildings. SFS 5907 (”Acoustic Classification of Buildings”) can be referred to when expressing acoustics requirements for most types of buildings.

The standard is also meant to be an education tool in acoustics for architects and clients.

Besides acousticians’ experience, the guide-lines and target values presented in SFS 5907 are based on new research findings from Finland and abroad.

As a general rule, it divides buildings and premises into four acoustic classes (A, B, C and D). Buildings in classes A and B are better than the ordinary in terms of their acoustics, class C corresponds to the minimum level, while class D is intended for old buildings only.

Standard highlight

* wide range of premises: educational premises, day care centre, health care premises, offices, factories, elderly homes, dwellings
* four sound quality classes (A, B, C and D) are proposed, where C corresponds to mandatory requirements according to Finnish Building Code. A would stand for "excellent", B for "good" and D for "in exceptional conditions". Class D applies for offices and factories only.
* stringent room acoustics requirements (see below)
* extensive appendix (acoustic design advices, drawings, connection to EN ISO 11 654, etc)

Finnish Standards Association SFS intends to publish an English version of SFS 5907 shortly. Check here>>

Contact

Posted by Fredrik at 11:25 AM | Permalink

This interaction is a central issue in International Standard ISO 17624:2004, Acoustics — Guidelines for noise control in offices and workrooms by means of acoustical screens. Besides silencers and enclosures (see ISO 14163 and ISO 15667, respectively), indoor screens are used as secondary means of noise control in workrooms and offices. Among others, it says “It is the effectiveness of these measures (sound absorbers), and the fittings of the room, which determine the amount by which the insertion sound pressure level difference of a screen in the room is less than the free-field screen sound attenuation”

Contact

Posted by Fredrik at 12:00 PM | Permalink

Read the answer from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work.

Posted by Fredrik at 12:36 AM | Permalink

Ecophon Dot - High precision, simple solution. (not available in the USA)

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Posted by Fredrik at 1:25 PM | Permalink

Ecophon Wall Panel C/Colorado Black – New design opportunities for cinema applications - excellent acoustics in combination with low light reflectance

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Posted by Fredrik at 1:08 PM | Permalink

Ecophon Master D – Every single tile - fully demountable

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Posted by Fredrik at 12:23 PM | Permalink

“Effects of sound in offices: subjective experience vs objective assessment”

Author: Chigot Pierre
Source: Facilities, March 2005, vol. 23, no. 3-4, pp. 152-163(12)
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Read abstract>>

Posted by Fredrik at 1:34 PM | Permalink

The dictionary has been collected by the Swiss Acoustical Society and now resides on the web page of the European Acoustics Association. The entries can be sorted by mouse click on the language in the table header.
http://www.european-acoustics.org/AD/

Posted by Fredrik at 1:37 PM | Permalink

Ingemansson Technology AB acquires all shares in Brekke&Strand Akustikk AS to form the largest group of expertise in Acoustics and Vibration in Europe.

The Swedish based company Ingemansson Technology AB has 100 employees and close to 50 years of experience as expert engineering consultants in acoustics with a wide range of customers in Scandinavia, Europe and across the world. Brekke&Strand AS is the leading Norwegian acoustics consultancy with 20 experienced acoustic engineers. Ingemansson has also launched a joint venture operation in France, whereby it will be better prepared to offer its services and competence to a wider range of customers.
For more information: http://www.bs-akustikk.no/ or http://www.ingemansson.com/

Posted by Fredrik at 1:40 PM | Permalink

Sonoises is an experimental web site, proposing new layouts between image and sound. Explore this unusual soundscape by "walking around" the four interactive sessions!

* Deaf (draw with sounds)
* Aesthetics of the murmur (who's been on the site before you and when?)
* Carnival versus lent (play with sounds)
* Magma (send your picture + sound contributions)
NB: the site requires Macromedia Flash Player 7 and works best with broadband and without firewall!

http://www.sonoises.org/master/

Posted by Fredrik at 1:46 PM | Permalink