Application of acoustical control through building codes and regulatory requirements

Abstract

The International Building Code (IBC) establishes minimum acoustical performance requirements for permanent and transient housing facilities. The lab parameters for acoustical performance within the IBC are useful during the design and permitting process but fail to provide code officials, builders, designers, and residents a method for evaluating the success of a completed building. The latest update to the IBC in 2021 establishes standards and metrics for use in evaluating post-construction code compliance to mutually protect all stakeholders (builders, code officials, occupants, municipalities, etc.) in housing facilities and reduces historic ambiguity in the code. Historically, the nature of the metrics and their ability to evaluate success has been limited (“Field impact insulation testing: Inadequacy of existing normalization methods and proposal for new ratings analogous to those for airborne noise reduction,” LoVerde/Dong, JASA, 2005). There is some historic precedent regarding the application and measurement requirement for field metrics (“Coping with uncertainties in the design and evaluation ofacoustical assemblies,” LoVerde/Dong, ASA Hong Kong, 2012). This presentation expands this conversation to examine regulatory requirements and discusses application of field verification of acoustical performance metrics.