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Acoustic property of building is based on acoustic nature of building materials and how sound is transmitted through the adjacent structural elements. Noise is unwanted sound, that is considered as a nuisance in buildings for residential or domestic purposes. The buildings must possess good sound insulation property to have good acoustic feature. Sound insulation of buildings is a property that must be considered in the initial stages of planning. Planning for the structural elements, to make them sound proof is one of the consideration. And the other one is the planning of the area, where the building should be located. A building planned near to a roadway, which is highly traffic prone, would result in high inconvenience to the occupants residing there. More detailed view on the subject and its considerations are explained below.![Acoustic Properties of Building Materials Acoustic Properties of Building Materials](https://test.theconstructor.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/acoustic-properties-of-building-materials.jpg)
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Sound Insulation in Buildings
The sound insulation property of building materials is the ability in the reduction of sound across a partition. For a good conventional office building construction, the sound insulation is experienced good when it is in the range of 45dB. This value can be explained as follows. If the room creates a sound of 65dB, then the receiver sitting in the adjacent room receives the sound at 20dB. This value is barely audible. Now if the level increase to 75dB, which is a raised voice, then the sound levels at the adjacent room will be 30 dB, which is clearly audible. We must keep in mind that sound insulation gives the property of how much sound is lost and not the sound regained within the room. The unwanted and unexpected sound is always considered to be a noise and that really is a question of the acoustic property of the building.Techniques to Reduce Unwanted Sound in Buildings
Certain physical techniques that are employed by engineers, architects, and builders to reduce noise impacts are explained under this section. Due to the scarcity of land as well as increasing population, the engineers are forced to undertake the available land and treat it as per our need. So, major four actions which can be employed to reduce noise impacts, that are compatible with any type of land, activity or use are:- Site Planning
- Design
- Methods in Construction
- Barriers in Construction