Sound Levels and Reverberation

I am on the Australian Standards committee looking at a revision of AS2107. This Standard deals with recommended indoor sound levels and reverberation times and we recently met for two days to review the over 500 comments received following the release of the Draft earlier this year. All of these were discussed and some of the points were taken on board. There are new spaces and occupancies compared to when the Standard was first drafted and some of these have changed in their practical use as well. And standards and expectations of the population have changed as well. It is interesting to contemplate on how much some things have changed over the years. For example, a Post Office is quite different today than it was 20 years ago and indeed, the traditional post office may not be around for that much longer! Thinking of the future and use of occupancies is not that easy as we really don’t know how things may change.

But we do know that reverberation control in some spaces is very important. Here is an example of an acoustic treatment improving the usability of a cafeteria in a university. This is a promo by one manufacturer but does tell the story. What is does show is that acoustics can have a very important impact on space use and function. Often, people tend to try and do what they have done previously and hope that it will work again rather than call an acoustic consultant to assist up front. Tread with care!

http://www.acousticbulletin.com/acoustics_improve_at-_the-_architectural_college_of_madrid