Indoor Environmental

Control

Lecture 05
Dr. Ali Sedki
Architectural Acoustics
Architectural Acoustics - Introduction

In physics, sound is a vibration that spread

out as a typically audible mechanical
wave of pressure and displacement,
through a transmission medium such as air or
water.

In physiology and psychology, sound is

the reception of such waves and
their perception by the brain.

Humans can hear sound waves with frequencies between about 20 Hz and 20 kHz.
Sound above 20 kHz is ultrasound and below 20 Hz is infrasound. Other animals have
different hearing ranges.

Acoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of mechanical
waves in gases, liquids, and solids including vibration, sound, ultrasound, and infrasound.
Architectural Acoustics – Introduction
10 Almost inaudible A leaf falling
Decibel Levels: 20 Audible Rustles of autumnal leaves

30 Very quiet Whispering

0 decibel: the minimum level that could be heard 40 Living room, quiet classroom

10 decibel: a leaf falling 50 Limited sound

Refrigerator working, car
driving past

20 decibel: Rustles of Autumnal leafs 55 Percolating coffee-maker

Sound of human voice,
60 Audible
30 decibel: very quiet – whispering machinery
Television set on loud, vacuum

50 decibel: rainfall 70 Irritating cleaner, several people on the

telephone

60 decibel: Normal conversation 75 Constant sound

Busy restaurant around
lunchtime

………… 80 Unpleasant
Alarm clock, freight traffic,
doorbell

………… 85 Loud Sawing, mixer

Truck close by, screaming,
90 Extremely unpleasant
110 decibel: shouting in ear 95 Noisy
yelling, shouting
Drill, violin

120 decibel: Thunder 100 Extremely unpleasant

Machine in a factory,
compressor, fighter jet at 300

140 decibel: Pain threshold m

Helicopter close by, large
105 Even louder
150 decibel: permanent damage to hearing 110 Extremely loud
drum
Rock concert, chainsaw
Human voice at its loudest,
120
police siren
130 Thunder
First Monday of the month
140 Pain threshold
siren from close by

150 Permanent damage to hearing Fireworks

160 Shooting with pistol or rifle

170 Avalanche firework

180 Rocket launch platform
194 Saturn rocket
Architectural Acoustics –

Physical characteristics of sound:

• Frequency,
• Frequency bands (Octave bands),
• Velocity (sound speed)
• Wavelength,
• The decibel scale,
Architectural Acoustics – Frequency of sound

Sound is tiny fluctuations of air pressure

With a simple sound wave

generated in air by a vibrating
tuning fork, there are basically two
measurable quantities:
• Frequency of the sound wave
• The magnitude (energy,
intensity)
Architectural Acoustics – Frequency of sound
• The frequency of a sound
wave is simply the
number of complete
vibrations (cycles)
occurring per unit of
time.

• The unit of
measure is the
Hertz (Hz)

• The tuning fork described

above generates sound at
just a single frequency.

• Music, speech, and noise

are more complex
because they contain
different sound energy.
Architectural Acoustics – Frequency of sound
Architectural Acoustics – Frequency bands
• In Architectural acoustics and for measurement purposes,
the audible frequency range may be divided into convenient
subdivisions such as: Octave bands or simply Octaves.
• An Octave is a band of frequencies whose upper frequency
limit is twice the lower frequency limit.
• The frequency interval from 200 Hz to 400 Hz is an
Octave,
• The interval from 400 Hz to 800 Hz is the next
higher octave, and so on.

• The bandwidth of an octave are increase by a factor of 2

• The center frequency of an octave cannot be obtained by averaging

the upper and the lower frequency limits

• The center frequency of an octave band is obtained by geometrically

averaging the upper and the lower frequency limits by multiplying the
upper and the lower frequency limits and square rooting the result:
Architectural Acoustics – Frequency bands

• Suppose the upper frequency limit is (Fu) and the lower is (FL) for an
octave with a ratio 2:1, the relationship with the center frequency (Fc)
will be as following:

Fu = Fc (√2) = 1.414 Fc

FL = Fc / √2 = 0.707 Fc

• Eight octaves with the following center frequencies are used in

architectural acoustics: 63 Hz, 125 Hz, 250 Hz, 500 Hz, 1 kHz, 2kHz, 4
kHz, 8kHz.

• The upper and lower limits of each of them could be specified.

Architectural Acoustics – Frequency bands

• Human ear’s perception of the interval between two frequencies is

based on their ratio, not on the mathematical difference between
them.

• The interval between 200 and 300 Hz is not perceived to be the same as
that between 100 and 200 Hz, they appear to be smaller.

• The interval sensation between 100 and 200 Hz perceived same as that
one between 200 and 400 Hz, or between 1000 and 2000 Hz, and so on.

• The equal interval sensations between two magnitudes of quantity are

obtained by the same ratio, that relationship follows a logarithmic scale.
Architectural Acoustics – Frequency ranges

The frequency range of speech extends from nearly 100 Hz to 5

kHz, covering nearly 5 octaves
Architectural Acoustics – velocity of sound

Sound is carried through air at 343 m/s as compressions and

rarefactions in air pressure
Architectural Acoustics – wavelength of sound

• Wavelength () is measured from crest-to-crest

– or trough-to-trough, or upswing to upswing, etc.
• For traveling waves (sound, light, water), there is a speed (v)
• Frequency (f) refers to how many cycles pass by per second
– measured in Hertz, or Hz: cycles per second
• These three are closely related:

V=  f
Architectural Acoustics – Sound measurement and Hearing
Ear’s sensitivity
• The human ear’s has
unequal sensitivity at
various frequencies.
• A given sound level
of 40 dB, at 100 Hz
does not sound as
loud as 40 dB at 1000
Hz.
• The unequal
sensitivity of human
ear is represented as
equal loudness
contours.
• These contours is
plotted to compare
the loudness of • Each contour gives the sound level necessary
sounds at different to produce the same loudness sensation at
frequencies. different frequencies.
Architectural Acoustics – wavelength of sound

• Haas effect
• Sound masking and masking effect