Listening Test Experiments for Comparisons of Sound Transmittřed through Light Weight and Heavy Weight Walls

When assessing the sound insulation quality of buildings constructions, policy makers and investors typically demand for single number ratings and sound insulation classes that allow for easy ranking of building products. converting the full frequency content of a precisely measured or calculated structure into a single number, which takes into account all aspects of the insulation performance in a balanced way, is a challenging task. the recently proposed draft standard 717 proposes to take into account also frequencies below 100 hz. this makes the single value rating even more complicated, since the transmission spectra r (db) of walls can be qualitatively very diff erent above and below 100 hz, and even more, since, particularly at low frequencies, human hearing depends not only on frequency but also on the absolute sound level. this article presents a comparison between masonry and light-weight walls with diff erent r value, in terms of the perception of loudness of typical living room noise transmitted through the walls. the eff ect of temporal and spectral features of the presented stimuli on loudness perception is analysed.status: publishe