Full scale field study of sound transmission across plenum windows

Tong, Y. G.; Tang, S. K.; Kang, J.; Fung, A.; Yeung, M. K.L.

Abstract

A full scale field measurement of the acoustical insertion loss of plenum windows was carried out in the present investigation. Two identical mock-up test rooms with dimensions the same as those commonly adopted for Hong Kong public housing were built side-by-side next to a busy trunk road. One of them was equipped with plenum windows, while the other with the conventional side-hung casement windows. Four internal room settings were included in this study. Results show that both the room modes and the acoustic modes within the plenum window cavities were affecting significantly the low frequency sound transmission. After correcting for the indoor reverberation/absorption effect, the acoustical benefit achieved by replacing side-hung casement windows with the plenum windows tested in the present study was between 7.1 and 9.5 dBA. By comparing the average equivalent sound pressure levels inside the two test rooms with the traffic noise weighted acoustical benefit, it was found that the changes of receiver room reverberation and acoustic modal effects due to such replacement would result in a reduction of plenum window sound insulation performance by 0.2-1.5 dBA. The insulation is stronger for larger room size with stronger indoor sound absorption.

Citation

Tong, Y. G., Tang, S. K., Kang, J., Fung, A., & Yeung, M. K. (2015). Full scale field study of sound transmission across plenum windows. Applied acoustics. Acoustique appliqué. Angewandte Akustik, 89, 244-253. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apacoust.2014.10.003

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 2, 2014
• Online Publication Date: Oct 24, 2014
• Publication Date: 2015-03
• Deposit Date: Jul 11, 2022
• Journal: Applied Acoustics
• Print ISSN: 0003-682X
• Electronic ISSN: 1872-910X
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 89
• Pages: 244-253
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apacoust.2014.10.003
• Keywords: Sound insulation; Building noise control; Environmental noise
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4015868