BU 323 - BUILDING UTILITIES 3: Acoustics and Lighting Systems

SCHOOL : Pangasinan State University, Urdaneta City Campus

PREPARED BY: Architect ALDWIN M. CASTILLO
ADOPTED BY: Architect HANNAH RUTH M. LAPEÑA

ACOUSTICS AND THE BASICS OF SOUND / SOUND THEORY

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WHAT IS ACOUSTICS?
- it is derived from the Greek word
akoustikos,
akouein,
akoustos
meaning:

- of or for hearing / pertaining to hearing,

- to hear,
- heard / audible

In the broad sense, we can define acoustics as the science of sound.

It is the branch of physics that deals with the production, control, transmission, reception, and
effects of sound.
If you are hearing sound, then you are interacting with acoustics.
It is a multidisciplinary field where many specializations cohere. It comprehends a numerous
profession.
Areas of Acoustics
Acoustics, the study of sound and vibration, addresses a great variety of issues. The areas of
study can be grouped in different ways, though most groupings are similar to the definition of
technical committees in the Acoustical Society of America (ASA). Using the ASA A approach
as a starting point, we have the following areas of acoustics: Acoustical Oceanography
• Animal Bioacoustics
• Architectural Acoustics
• Biomedical Acoustics
• Engineering Acoustics
• Musical Acoustics
• Noise
• Physical Acoustics
• Psychological and Physiological Acoustics
• Signal Processing in Acoustics
• Speech Communication
• Structural Acoustics and Vibration
• Underwater Acoustics
Acousticians include engineers, physicists, speech and hearing scientists, architects,
biologists, psychologists, linguists, mathematicians, oceanographers, computer scientists, and
musicians. There are many different fields of acoustics for study and practice as you can see
in Lindsay’s Wheel of Acoustics below.
The “Wheel of Acoustics” was created by R. Bruce Lindsay for The Science of Acoustics, published
in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
The wheel shows the fields of acoustics starting with the four broad fields of Earth Sciences, Engineering, Life
Sciences, and the Arts.
The outer circle lists the various broad disciplines one may study to prepare for a career in acoustics. The inner
circle lists the fields within acoustics to which many fields naturally lead
 WHAT IS ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS?

-- It is the scientific know-how to achieve a good sound within a space.

-- From Acoustical Society of America (ASA), Architectural Acoustics encompasses the

following areas of interest as applied to sound in and around buildings:

Room finish treatments, surface shaping, volumes, and geometries

Airborne and structureborne sound isolation and noise control
Noise and vibration control of building systems
Electroacoustic and media systems
Perception and psychoacoustics

-- it is the science and engineering involved in getting a good sound within a building.
➢ Wallace Sabine took the first step towards applied architectural acoustics. He tested the modern
scientific methods of architectural acoustics in the Fogg Museum lecture room. He later applied the
same principles to the design of Symphony Hall, Boston.

-- It is a noise control of a building space to facilitate good communication functions and its effect on occupancy.
The structure’s building materials have an effect on the building’s distant hearing and acoustics.

In a project, we relate, incorporate, or apply architectural acoustics to

The Holy Trinity in Architecture
1. The Architectural Interior
2. The Building Mass
3. The Environment

UNDERSTANDING SOUND

Sound is a form of energy. It is created when matter vibrates. Vibrations make sound waves.

In physics, it is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission

medium such as a gas, liquid or solid
From a physiological point of view, without the human auditory system, there would be no
such a thing as sound in the world, but merely vibrations.
Sound is a lot like water. It doesn’t have a shape or form, so it molds itself to its surroundings
and, like water, can be absorbed by some materials and contained by others. This is why
sound absorbing and soundproofing materials can stop the transfer of sound within a space, or
from one space to another.
If sound consists of vibrational stimulus detected and interpreted by the human auditory
system, plenty of other vibrational stimulus are out of that range and thus they are not
catalogued as sound. Sound then is a very narrow concept, linked always to humans. Let us
just think that the human hearing range is 16 Hz – 19 kHz. But a cow’s hearing range is 23 Hz
– 35 kHz, an elephant’s hearing range is 17 Hz – 10.5 kHz, a dog’s hearing range is 64 Hz –
44 kHz, a little brown bat’s hearing range is 10.3 kHz – 115 kHz and a beluga whale’s hearing
range is 1 kHz – 123 kHz.

For Jonathan Sterne the concept of sound is fully anthropocentric: “We treat sound as a
natural phenomenon exterior to people, but its very definition is anthropocentric.” Sound,
under Sterne’s vision, is only a small element of the vibrating world, since when addressing
sound, we could perfectly well talk of a “larger physical phenomenon of vibration.” Sound is
defined by Sterne as “that class of vibrations perceived – and, in a more exact sense,
sympathetically produced – by the functioning ear when they travel through a medium that can
convey changes in pressure (such as air).” Nevertheless, when referring to the functioning
ear, Sterne is, in fact, talking about the human auditory system. Sound is a human affair only
and in his opinion “human beings. reside at the center of any meaningful definition of sound.
From a physiological point of view, without the human auditory system, “there would be no
such a thing as sound in the world, but merely vibrations.” Sound is, then, a set of vibrations,
interpreted by humans.
Sound is a physical wave, or a mechanical vibration, or simply a series of pressure variations
in an elastic medium.

- For airborne sound – the medium is air

- For structure-borne sound – the media are concrete, steel, wood, glass and a combination
of all of these

To create sound that is audible to human ears, sound energy moves the molecules of the
substance through which it is travelling and creates sound waves that spread in a circular
pattern like ripples in a pond. As sound waves move further away from their source, their
intensity naturally becomes less intense.

Sound is an alteration in pressure (particle displacement in velocity) projected and propagated

in an elastic material.
For architects, sound is simply defined as an audible signal. It simply means that the science
of architectural acoustics is concerned with the building occupants, and sounds which he or
she cannot detect are generally nor our concern.

Sound is a form of energy. It is created when matter vibrates. Vibrations make sound waves.

- Put your hand on your throat, and say something now. Feel the vocal cords in your throat,
vibrate as you make a sound.

The material that the sound travels through is what we call the “acoustic medium”, and without
an appropriate medium, sound cannot travel at all!

Sound needs a substance to travel through and travels by particles vibrating – which state of
matter does sound travel fastest through?

How sound travels? The speed at which sound travels from one place to another depends
upon the medium and how closely packed the molecules are in the matter. A medium is a
substance that allows sound waves to travel through it. Where there is no medium, no sound
can be transmitted. Of the three medium, solid, liquid and gas, sound waves travel the
slowest through gases, faster through liquids, and fastest through solids.

Sound is a vibration in an elastic medium; its production requires a source and a path; it
travels to a receiver (the human ear, usually).

The “NOISE SYSTEM” consists of the source, the path, and the receiver. The architect’s
focus is on the source and path.

• SOURCE -- can be made louder or more quiet

• PATH -- the path can be made to transmit more or less sound
• RECEIVER -- the listener assumed to have a pair of healthy young ears with a
detection range of 20 to 20,000 Hz
➢ A simple approach is needed to break the problem down into individual
elements. Modifying any or a combination of the three elements can provide
noise control.
NOISE SYSTEM
The sound we hear is the result of sound waves.
But what are sound waves?
What are their characteristics?
How do they work?

The five main characteristics of sound waves include the following:

1. Wavelength
2. Amplitude
3. Frequency
4. Time Period
5. Velocity.

1, Wavelength
The most important characteristic of sound waves may be the wavelength. Sound
consists of a longitudinal wave that includes compressions and rarefactions as they
travel through a given medium. The distance that one wave travels before it repeats
itself is the wavelength. It is the combined length of a compression and the adjacent
rarefaction, or the distance between the centers of two consecutive rarefactions or
compressions.

2. Amplitude
The amplitude is the size of a given wave. Think of it as sort of like the wave’s height
as opposed to its length. The amplitude is more accurately defined as the maximum
displacement of the particles the sound wave disturbs as it passes through a medium.

3. Frequency
The frequency refers to the number of sound waves a sound produces per second. A
low-frequency sound has fewer waves, while a high-frequency sound has more.
Sound frequency is measured in hertz (HZ) and is not dependent upon the medium
the sound is passing through.

4. Time Period
The time period is almost the opposite of the frequency. It is the time required to
produce a single complete wave, or cycle. Each vibration of the vibrating body
producing the sound is equal to a wave.

5. Velocity
The velocity of the wave, sometimes referred to as the speed, is the amount of
distance in meters per second that a wave travels in one second.
WAVE PROPERTIES
ACOUSTICAL TERMS WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
THREE COMMON PROBLEMS IN ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS
1. Protecting outdoor or indoor spaces from environmental noise.
2. Controlling loud sound within enclosed spaces.
3. Reducing sound transmission between rooms (or from or to outdoors
Sources:
o Architectural Acoustics Workbook by M. David Egan
o Master Handbook of Acoustics (5th Edition) by Everest and Pohlmann
o Sounds [That] Are Not Is There any Time Left? By Luz María Sánchez Cardona
o 2017-2023 International Commission for Acoustics
o Some notes on acoustics by Michael Carley
o Architectural Graphic Standards by Ramsey / Sleeper
o Mechanical and Electrical Equipment for Building by
o Fundamentals of Acoustics Introductory Course on Multiphysics Modelling by Tomasz G. Zieli ́nski
o Architectural Acoustics, article by HL Architects in Durham North East UK in Architects Zone
o Visual Dictionary by Francis D. K. Ching
o Transmission of sound in different mediums in weebly.com
o Acoustics 101 for Architects: Terminologies and Concepts by Michael Fay