In recent years, research has shown that the lower frequency portion of impact sound, down to 20 Hz, is of significant importance to residents’ perception in buildings that have lightweight timber floors. At low frequencies, the finite element method is a useful tool for predictive analysis. Impact sound frequency response functions, which are easily calculated using finite element software, are useful as they offer a common ground for studies of correlations between measurements and analyzes. On the measurement side, the tapping machine is well defined and has become the standard excitation device for building acoustics. When using a tapping machine, the excitation force spectrum generated – necessary to achieving experimental frequency force to sound response functions – is unknown. Different equipment may be used for excitation and force measurements and if a structure behaves linearly, the use of any excitation devices should result in the same frequency response functions. Here, an ISO tapping machine hammer is fitted with an accelerometer, enabling estimates of input force spectra. In combination with measurements of the sound in the receiver room, frequency response functions are then achieved using an ISO tapping machine. Various excitation devices have been used on a floor partition in a timber building and on a cross-laminated timber (CLT) lab. floor in order to compare the resulting frequency response functions. Structural nonlinearities are evident, implying that for accurate frequency response measurements in acoustically low frequencies, excitation magnitudes and characteristics that are similar to these which stem from human excitations, should preferably be used.