People with hearing impairments have particular difficulty in making out sounds and words in noisy environments. Adequate sound insulation should minimize noise from both outside and inside the building. Noise can often be mitigated, for example by introducing a buffer zone between a meeting area and extraneous noise, or partitioning a restaurant. The acoustics in a room are essentially connected with its location in the building and with the acoustic insulation of the building elements. The distribution of noise within the room itself and from exterior sources depends on the sound absorption of the surrounding surfaces and furnishing of the room. The calculation of acoustic absorption is significant in rooms where acoustic quality is important and also where noise reduction is required.
Good acoustics shall be achieved by optimizing the reverberation time, by considering the use/purpose of the room and by ensuring a low background noise level. The optimum reverberation time of a room should be determined having regard to the volume and the intended purpose of the room.
The geometry and shape of the room, as well as the distribution of sound absorbing and reflecting surfaces, are important. Surfaces that absorb sound should be carefully selected, as well as surfaces that reflect it. To develop an effective acoustic environment, sound absorbent surfaces can be used on floors and ceilings.
The optimum reverberation times for communication, speech only or music performance are different and depend on the size and shape of the room. Requirements for reverberation time shall be as per Part 8 ‘Building Services’, Section 4 ‘Acoustics, Sound Insulation and Noise Control’ of the Code.