Acoustic design of teachers' cafeteria in Tsinghua University

Abstract

By the end of 2015, Tsinghua University has built a new cafeteria for 600 people. Dining period in university campus is not just eating, but an important conversation opportunity. The university president insists the noisy environment in past campus cafeteria must not happen again. So a comprehensive architectural acoustic design was taken. In order to meet the architect's aesthetic requirements, the restaurant uses a large area of seamless porous sandstone sound-absorbing material. By both ceilings/walls absorption treatments and dining tables layout, three acoustic design goals were reached: (1) mid-frequency reverberation time = 0.7s; (2) at the same table, the speaker's sound level attenuation of not more than 6dB, and passed to the adjacent table sound level attenuation of more than 9dB, this ensures the hearing’s signal to noise ratio; (3) in busy meal peak, the average background noise does not exceed 65dB (A). Teachers are satisfied with the sound environment of the cafeteria.