Field measurements of facade sound insulation in residential buildings with balcony windows [An article from: Building and Environment]

This digital document is a journal article from Building and Environment, published by Elsevier in 2007. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
Balconies fitted with windows are peculiar to multi-storey residential buildings in Korea, and function as a buffer zone for controlling elements of the outdoor environment, such as noise, heating and cooling load, humidity and so on. In particular, windows installed on the edge of balconies occupy a major portion of the whole building facades, and therefore play an important role in the facade sound insulation of residential buildings. This paper concentrates on the measurement and evaluation of facade sound insulation provided by the balcony windows of nine apartment complexes. Measurements were conducted according to ISO 140-5 and the single-number quantities were analyzed. The results showed that the single-number quantities of the airborne sound insulation of balcony windows varied according to the field test methods and conditions. In addition, the single-number quantities were consistent with the overall A-weighted sound-level differences between the inside and outside of the facades, particularly when using the global road traffic method.