Standard: ASTM E966 – Standard Guide for Field Measurements of Airborne Sound Attenuation of Building Facades and Facade Elements

Certification Required: Field acoustical certification is currently not required by most building codes. However, some buildings located in large cities or near airports, railways and highways may require field verification of the noise isolation provided by the building facade or facade elements. Outdoor-indoor transmission loss measurements may be necessary in certain types of buildings to meet the requirements in ANSI/ASHRAE/ICC/USGBC/IES Standard 189.1, LEED, ANSI/ASA S12.60 Guidelines for Schools, FGI Guidelines for Healthcare Facilities, and the International Green Construction Code.

Scope: This test method covers the field measurement of airborne sound transmission loss of exterior building facades and facade elements. The data obtained from this test is used to calculate an apparent outdoor-indoor transmission class (AOITC), apparent sound transmission class (ASTC) rating and the apparent outdoor-indoor noise isolation class (OINIC).

Applicable Products: Exterior building facades and facade elements, such as window, door, wall, and roof systems.

Test Procedure: Testing is performed on the facade of a room or an element of that facade such as a window or door. The interior room is referred to as the receiving room.  A loudspeaker is placed outside of the test area at a 45-degree angle and it generates high levels of broadband noise. The space and time-averaged sound pressure levels are measured both on the exterior surface of the facade or the facade element and in the interior room. The sound absorption and the background sound levels are also measured in the receiving room. The sound pressure levels measured on the exterior and interior of the facade or facade element, the sound absorption in the receiving room and the area of the specimen are used to calculate the outdoor-indoor transmission loss (OITL) at the standard 1/3 octave band frequencies.

End Result: The test report will include the outdoor-indoor transmission loss values from 80 to 5000 Hertz, the AOITC rating, ASTC rating, and the OINIC rating.

Intertek Testing Locations:

York, PA - (717) 764-7700, todd.kister@intertek.com
Lake Forest, CA - (949) 448-4100, lee.hoover@intertek.com
Cortland, NY - (607) 753-6711, jim.kline@intertek.com
Fridley, MN - (651) 636-3835, dan.johnson@intertek.com
Franklin, WI - (414)-421-6100, nick.rydzik@intertek.com

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