Experimental assessment of sound insulation performance of a double window with porous absorbent materials its cavity perimeter

Abstract

As described herein, the sound insulation performance of a double window with absorbent materials on the perimeter of its cavity is studied experimentally. Two experiments are used to measure the sound reduction indices. The first experiment was performed with a double window composed of commercially available products. The second was conducted with a model constructed of two acrylic panels: a simplified model of a double window with a cavity between the panes. As the result of the first experiment, the improvement in reduction index obtained by the attached absorbent was around 4 dB. In the second experiment, though some negative effect was observed at low frequencies, the increase in reduction index was about 12 dB at maximum. Consequently, the following findings were obtained: (1) Acoustic transmission characteristics of a double window are affected mainly by resonances of two types: mass-air-mass resonance of window panes and the air cavity, and the acoustic mode resonances of the air cavity in-between; (2) acoustic mode resonance is suppressed by attaching absorbent materials on the inside of the cavity of window. Consequently, the sound reduction index increases.