An Assessment Model for the Indoor Noise Environment of Aged Apartment Houses

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Detached houses have been established as the traditional lifestyle of housing in Korea for thousands of years. However, apartment houses have been introduced in urban areas to meet the needs of industrialization since the 1970′s. The primary consideration of these residential structures then was the rapid construction of mass housing for urbanites rather than building performance (i.e. indoor acoustic quality). Today, residents of old, first generation apartment houses are complaining of indoor noise. This study was conducted to understand the nature of occupants′ complaints, and to investigate any gaps between residents′ expectations concerning their indoor acoustics vis-à-vis actual performance of their apartment unit. A model for assessing the indoor acoustic environment was designed, comprising of five noise elements - floor impact noise, heavy weight floor impact noise, plumbing noise, unit-to-unit sound insulation, and traffic noise level - and their target performance levels. Measurements on five elements in actual apartment houses were performed, as well as a comparison of the results based on the residents′ expectations obtained by a questionnaire survey and target levels given by the assessment model. The results have illustrated a good agreement between the measurement data and the modelled acoustic performance levels. It shows that the careful design of floor structure and plumbing systems provides a better acoustic performance for life in apartments.