Estimating the performance of heavy impact sound insulation using empirical approaches

Abstract

With an increasing demand for quieter residential environments, impact sound insulation for floating floors is gaining importance. However, existing methods for estimating the performance of heavy impact sound insulation are limited by their inability to comprehensively analyze various types of floating floors, as well as difficulties mathematically determining the input force of the reference source for heavy impacts. To overcome these limitations, this study proposes empirical models for estimating the sound insulation performance of floating floors under heavy impacts. The proposed models are then validated; the model with the highest accuracy exhibits an average estimation error of 2.73 dB at 50–630 Hz. The proposed models exhibit better accuracies than existing analytical models for frequencies below 100 Hz, where the estimation errors of the analytical models were large. Thus, the proposed models may help reduce errors in analytical estimates or when estimating a single numerical quantity for sound insulation rating during the design stage of multifamily housing.

Keywords

• sound insulation
• floating floor
• empirical modeling
• multivariate regression
• principal component regression