Comparisons of impact and airborne sound isolation among cross laminated timber, heavy-timber mill buildings, concrete, and light weight wood frame floor/ceiling assemblies

Abstract

While laboratory measurements of the Impact Sound Pressure Level (ISPL) and Transmission Loss (TL) of concrete and lightweight wood-frame constructions are well understood, not much laboratory research has been conducted into the acoustical performance of CLT and heavy-timber mill buildings. Recent work on the performance of these wood based floor/ceilings has been presented at other conferences. This paper will review that previously published research for both the bare assemblies and assemblies that include resilient elements. These resilient elements include recycled rubber floor underlayment and sound isolation clip systems. This paper will then compare the performance of these assemblies to each other and to more common concrete and lightweight wood frame floor/ceiling assemblies. The analysis will also include the comparable strengths and weaknesses of each structural system along with the effectiveness of the various acoustical isolation techniques and their effectiveness on each of various floor ceiling assembly. It will be shown that the acoustical isolation techniques will perform differently on the various floor/ceiling assemblies.