Analytical derivation of requirements for airborne sound insulation between rooms.

Wolfgang Moll

Against the background of the debate about sound protection levels in the current revision of DIN 4109 “Sound insulation in buildings” the author critically examines the existing methodology for determining acoustic requirements. In view of the lack of physical legitimation of these requirements - previously sound insulation values, now sound protection values - the author proposes targeted calculation of reverberation-related sound protection requirements based on generally known basic data, including the sound power levels of individual sources, masking through background noise, etc. The technique is explained in detail and illustrated by means of examples. Basic values are proposed for minimum sound protection, increased sound protection and high sound protection, which are then used for determining the requirements for individual parameters.