Changes in heavy-weight impact sound isolation by construction stage in new residential buildings

In Korea, 63% of the population lives in residential buildings. Due to the prevalence of residential buildings, there are constant disputes and complaints related to floor impact sound. To address the floor impact sound problems, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport (MOLIT) announced strong legal regulations from 2022. The law holds construction companies liable for compensation if they fail to meet the minimum sound insulation standard. The existing construction methods for floor structures were unable to meet the required minimum sound insulation standards, leading to the need for improvements. The evaluation process was enhanced by changing the source from bang-machine to impact ball, leading to more accurate assessments of floor impact sound insulation. In response to the challenges faced with existing methods, the research paper developed and applied a composite floor structure using a new material with increased area density. The performance of each construction stage in the new composite floor structure was measured and evaluated according to the ISO 16283-2 (testing) and ISO 717-2 (evaluation) standards. The implementation of the new composite floor structure with increased area density resulted in a noise reduction of up to 10 compared to the bare slab. [Work supported by the Industrial Technology Innovation Program (20023556, Development of personalized noise mitigation technology and service based on noise simulation to solve the noise problem in personal space) funded By MOTIE, Korea.]