Sound Insulation Testing (UKAS)
HA Acoustics are UKAS accredited. UKAS (The United Kingdom Accreditation Service) sound insulation testing is required for residential premises to see if it complies with Part E Building regulations. Part E sets out soundproofing standards for new homes and conversions for wall and floor partitions.
The testing procedure is split into 4 sections which is stated below;
Airborne Testing
Airborne testing is required for sound insulation testing. High volume pink noise is generated from an omni-directional speaker (pictured below) which will located in the source room. Measurements are taken in the source room (2 x 20 second measurements in a figure of “a”). The same measurement procedure will be followed in the receiver room.
The speaker will be moved accordingly (depends if testing a wall or floor) and the process will be done again. This is 1 airborne measurement.
The results are rated in accordance with BS EN ISO 717-1: 1997 “Rating of sound insulation in buildings and of building elements. Part 1 – Airborne sound insulation”
- New build criteria – 45dB
- Change of use criteria – 43dB
Impact Testing
Impact testing is measured with a tapping machine (pictured below), which will be placed into four different positions in the source room (2 measurements per position in the receiver room). The measurements for impact testing is a total of 6 static measurements of 5 seconds per measurement.
The results are rated in accordance with BS EN ISO 717-2: 1997 “Rating of sound insulation in buildings and of building elements. Part 2 – Impact sound insulation”.
- New build criteria – 62dB
- Change of use criteria – 64dB
Reverberation Time (RT60)
To undertake RT60, high volume pink noise is generated in the receiver room/s and stopped instantaneously in order to measure the reverberation time in each of the one-third octave bands between 100Hz and 3150Hz. This is done to measure the decay time of sound in the room. This is done 9 times with 3 different measurement positions.
Background Measurements
A 30 second background measurement is required in the receiver room. Background measurements are taken in the receiver room during testing in accordance with BS EN ISO 140 Part 4.
Leave a Reply