ASTM standards are used to calculate a single number performance rating for floor-ceiling assembly impact noise. A higher number represents better performance, and a lower number represents poor performance. This number is calculated by placing a standard tapping machine on the floor and measuring the radiated sound pressure level (SPL) in the receiving room below. In theory, the performance of an assembly can be represented by just this calculated number. In practice, however, the same assembly tested in the same configuration can lead to a range of single-number ratings, instead of just one number. The authors are working on developing a new measurement method with an improved standard deviation. A simulation model was used in previous works and the guidelines were developed. This research uses the previously proposed guidelines to test three structures and shows that the measurement standard deviation can be as low as approximately 1 dB as compared to the 4 - 10 dB variation observed with the current method. Additionally, the proposed method was able to rank-order the assemblies better than the existing method when compared to the subjective response in the receiving spaces.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
8 May 2022
184th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America
8–12 May 2023
Chicago, Illinois
Architectural Acoustics: Paper 3aAA9
October 02 2023
Evaluating proposed low-frequency measurement guidelines for impact noise in buildings with ASTM ratings
Sunit Girdhar
;
Sunit Girdhar
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering - Engineering Mechanics, Michigan Technological University
, Houghton, MI, 49931, USA
; [email protected]
Search for other works by this author on:
Wayland Dong
Wayland Dong
Search for other works by this author on:
Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 51, 015005 (2023)
Article history
Received:
June 23 2023
Accepted:
June 27 2023
Connected Content
This is a companion to:
A new measurement method for floor-ceiling assembly performance with improved reproducibility
Citation
Sunit Girdhar, Andrew R. Barnard, Jason R. Blough, John LoVerde, Wayland Dong; Evaluating proposed low-frequency measurement guidelines for impact noise in buildings with ASTM ratings. Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 8 May 2023; 51 (1): 015005. https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001752
Download citation file:
116
Views
Citing articles via
Enabling support for GNU Octave within the FOCUS software package
Jacob S. Honer, Robert J. McGough
Related Content
Modeling a representative room to explore standard sound measurement methods for ASTM Impact Sound Rating testing
Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. (March 2022)
Guidelines to measure low-frequency floor impact performance with high reproducibility
Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. (October 2023)
Evaluation of ASTM and ISO methods for measuring sound levels in building acoustics measurements
Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. (July 2022)
On the 50th anniversary of ASTM E33, a history of ASTM International standards on building and environmental acoustics
J Acoust Soc Am (April 2022)
Streamlining ASTM acoustical standards
J Acoust Soc Am (April 2022)