Frequency analysis of air conditioning noise in landscaped offices

Abstract

Site measurements of spectral levels of air conditioning system noise in ten landscaped offices were made. These objective measurements were related to the subjective response of the occupants to air conditioning noise, in order to put forward design rules. It was discovered that if the background office noise was NR 45, then the design value of the air conditioning should be NR 40, in order to limit the percentage of people aware of noise from the air conditioning to 15%. Narrow bandwidth frequency analysis revealed that there was no significant effect from discrete frequencies in the air conditioning noise.