The Relevance of the Low-Frequency Sound Insulation of Window Elements of Façades on the Perception of Urban-Type Sounds

Abstract

The sound insulation of the façade and its elements is a very important characteristic, as it largely determines the degree of sound protection of the building’s interior from external noise sources. This feature, therefore, has a great influence on the acoustic comfort and health of the occupants. For this reason, it is very important that the way in which the sound insulation of the façade is quantified and represented corresponds to the way it is perceived. Although there have long been regulations describing how it should be measured and expressed through Single-Number Quantities (SNQs), there is much scientific debate about the appropriateness of current standardised methods for expressing sound insulation, in terms of whether they accurately represent human-perceived comfort. In this regard, much of the debate centres on the frequency range to be considered when expressing sound insulation, with no consensus as to whether the low-frequency bands (i.e., 50, 63, and 80 Hz) should be used for the calculation of façade sound insulation SNQs. In order to contribute to this knowledge, we conducted a listening test using a Two-Alternative Choice (2-AC) protocol on a sample of 100 participants to test whether participants’ annoyance with urban noise changed significantly with variations in window sound insulation only in the low-frequency range. The results of the experiment, analysed using Thurstonian models, showed that the influence of low frequencies is limited for the sound insulation of the tested window façade elements and urban-type noise of aircraft and mixed urban traffic at low speeds and only becomes relevant when the sound insulation of the elements is exceptionally low in the low-frequency range.