Cost Saving Ideas for Industrial Noise Control
“Wow, you guys are expensive”. I’ve heard this once or twice so far in my career. Interestingly, I hear it the most from industrial and manufacturing clients where employee noise exposure is a major issue in their operations. It’s true, the consulting fee can be a little overwhelming at first, however, if you step back and look at the larger picture, you might be surprised how inexpensive the fee can be. (more)
HVAC Noise Is Intruding On My Listening
Being a noise engineer, I’m always on the “listen-out” for cases of poor building acoustics. I find that common offenders are noisy air handling (HVAC) systems. Frequently the public venues are restaurants, hotels and cinemas, and on occasion it’s a location most tragic, a performance space. (more)
Several weeks ago, a client invited me to a rehearsal in their highly reverberant space that ABD was hired to test and correct. I declined, as I already had plans to attend a play that evening at a different facility, and joked that during the performance I’d also be listening to sirens from the main street outside the theater. Nearly every time we attend a performance in this space, we hear sirens going by the building. Sure enough, on cue in Act II, “errrrrreeeeeerrrrrhhh” slices into the hall. My husband and I shake our heads. This is why sound isolation of performance spaces from outside noise intrusion is so important. (more)
Are Construction Administration Services Really That Important?
For many of our larger projects, we offer Acoustical Consulting Construction Administration Services as an additional option. Unfortunately, not all clients invest money on this service. Our frustration extends well beyond the revenue side of the project (the CA services are usually a very reasonable addition to the project budget, relative to Design Services). Sometimes our clients opt out of CA services, ending our involvement with the project after a review of the construction drawings and the specifications. We find that many clients view the additional services as non-essential. After all, “all the information is in the drawings and the specifications.” I would completely agree with the sentiment in an ideal world, but experience has shown this world is rarely, if ever, ideal. There are some clients, however, that have welcomed this form of service from our company, and I’d like to share one of their successes. (more)
How to Gradually Reduce Employee Noise Exposure
Industrial plants are most often loud and dynamic work environments. Noise fields are complex with varying levels of noise produced by many different pieces of equipment, and employees spend varying amounts of time near the different noise sources. Sound levels are even impacted by the building, with taller spaces generally quieter than single story spaces, sound absorbing room finishes sucking up some of the noise, and partitions blocking sound. Measuring worker noise exposure is simple. (more)
Noise Isolation for Hospital Mechanical Rooms
Hospitals and Healthcare Facilities have requirements for large volumes of ventilation and strict control of airflow, and the greater the airflow, the greater the potential for noise. Building mechanical services equipment, fans, pumps, cooling, and heating equipment are all sources of high noise levels. When Acoustics By Design works on a new hospital, we typically expend half of our effort on attenuating building mechanical systems noise. In order to avoid the need for extensive noise and vibration isolating constructions, project designers and engineers should pay careful attention to mechanical room sizes and locations during schematic design. Here are some issues to address early on… (more)
Wind Turbine Noise | Residential Vs. Commercial
Who Can See the Wind?
(by Christina Georgina Rossetti)
Who can see the wind? Neither you nor I
But when the leaves are trembling
The wind is passing by!
Who can see the wind? Neither I nor you
But when the trees are bending low
The wind is passing through!
As this children’s poem points out, the wind’s affect on the surrounding environment is a beautiful thing. But if you live near one of the many “wind farms” popping up all over the country, you may disagree. If that’s you, then “seeing the wind” means 400 foot tall wind turbines interrupting your landscape, and “hearing the wind” may mean loud “whirring” and “whoosh” sounds keeping you awake at night. (more)
Hotel Room Noise Isolation = A Good Night’s Rest
Due to the nature of our work and the locations of our clients, we are always traveling. One thing that I’ve noticed in my many years at ABD is that there is a vast difference in the quality of the rooms at any given hotel. When I check in, I have a few requests that I announce long before the desk clerk imprints my key. First, I always ask for a room on the opposite side of the hotel from the highway and second I ask for a room at the end of the hallway. So why are these things important to me? Acoustics, of course! (more)
Elbows vs. Sound Attenuators: Interchangeable?
It is common belief that a series of elbows near an air handling unit (AHU) can accomplish the same insertion loss as a manufactured duct sound attenuator. It’s true that elbows are less expensive than sound attenuators, but what acoustical performance is really achieved with this “low cost” substitution?
Let’s compare the two designs. Using the tables presented in the 2007 ASHRAE Handbook – HVAC Applications, for any type of elbow (round, rectangular, acoustically lined or not), the width of an elbow (in the plane that it turns) must equal or exceed 30 inches to get ANY insertion loss at 63 Hz. A 30 inch wide elbow provides only 1 dB of insertion loss (IL) at 125 Hz . These two frequencies are typically of concern when reducing sound from AHUs.
Closed Office Acoustics and Privacy Concerns
We regularly receive phone calls regarding closed office privacy concerns. The acoustical challenges of an open office environment are manifold, but crosstalk between closed office spaces can be just as distracting. Typically, when these calls come in, we have a standard list of questions that we ask the potential clients about their current environment to try to get an understanding of why they feel they have no privacy between closed offices. (more)
Doggy Daycare Noise Control – Acoustic Roadblocks
Are you planning to open a veterinary hospital? A doggy daycare? A kennel? A private dog park? If so, then make sure that you consider the noise issues ahead of time (i.e., the barking)! Although these types of projects only account for a small portion of our work at Acoustics By Design, we end up assisting with noise control for at least a couple of these animal facilities every year. And when it comes to building the perfect doggy daycare or kennel, there is always a common list of acoustic roadblocks. (more)
LEED for Healthcare to be Adopted in 2009
The LEED Green Building Rating SystemTM is a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. LEED was created by the U.S. Green Building Council to define “green building” through a common standard, and to promote integrated, whole-building design practices. There are several categories of LEED building certification programs including: LEED for New Construction, LEED for Existing Buildings, LEED for Schools, and LEED for Retail, just to name a few. And as of last week, the U.S.G.B.C. announced plans to adopt a new LEED category in 2009: Healthcare. (more)
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