STC: Sound Transmission Class or SPEECH Transmission Class? The venerable STC rating is used to classify and rank-order partition sound isolation performance. A high rating, especially above 50, is widely…
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The “Soundproof” Myth My first wristwatch when I was a kid was a “waterproof” Timex. The TV commercial even featured one strapped to a speedboat propeller. In spite of the…
dBA: One size does not fit all Perhaps the greatest confusion in the popular understanding of noise surrounds A-weighted sound level, abbreviated dBA. It’s the most common descriptor used in…
6: Hide behind lax regulations The school zone speed limit sign says 60. Maybe it’s a typo, maybe it’s a mistake. Maybe they mean kilometers/hr? Hard to believe anyone would drive…
#5: “No Regulation, No Problem” Many parts of the USA lack a Noise Ordinance. Contrary to what some believe, a Plant located in such an area is not free of…
#4 – We’ll add the noise control afterward, if needed Noise control added after the fact has a nasty tendency to make equipment bulky, heavy, expensive, inefficient, and difficult to…
#3: Forgetting about noise control engineering Because most of us can hear decently, it’s easy to overestimate our understanding of acoustics and to underestimate the skill required to control noise….
#2: This Plant wasn’t a problem the last time we built it Perhaps that’s true, but a lot of factors can get overlooked if you’re not thinking correctly about noise….
#1: How could OUR noise be annoying? We tend to perceive “our” noise through a lens of positive connotations. It’s the sound of building things, providing jobs, delivering entertainment, powering…
This year I’ve had the privilege of delivering customized noise control short courses. Topics include fan noise in forced air cooling, low-noise product design, environmental noise, and industrial noise. …