Noise Control for Buildings
While
designing a building, the one aspect that is mostly overlooked is that of Noise
control. Noise is injurious both physically and mentally to all human beings.
It will be felt in the long run, after having caused irreparable damage. Hence
it is vital to bring down the sound levels during construction stages and later
too.
The
buildings scenario in the country is rapidly changing. The main reason is the
proliferation and fast phase of the construction work. All the major cities are witnessing
continuous makeover, but this need not be the reason for ignoring certain basic
and simple guidelines. Buildings must be
in harmony with the five natural elements like earth, fire, water, air and
ether and also with the five senses of humankind like sight, hearing, smell,
taste and touch. The built environment
must be a stress-buster and not a stress-spreader.
Spaces
for all varieties of occupation like for entertainment, retail, offices and
residences are well planned and designed for visual aesthetics, life safety,
comfort and other important aspects, but no attention is paid for acoustics and
noise control. The second sense of humans, hearing, which follows that of the
visual being the first in order of importance is greatly ignored.
Sound
is a very essential element. When the Television is watched in mute mode, all
the sensations and melodrama is vanished. But the same sound if excessive,
becoming a rough quality of noise, the sense of hearing is not in harmony with
the other senses of human beings. This aggravates stress.
In
Residences. The distressing and persisting hum of the water pump in the
basement amplified through the elevator shaft, the low-flying aircraft rattling
windows, flush noise punctuating studies and meditation, the traffic noise
piercing through the balcony, the sounds of dialogues and music from the
television echoing in the hall are some of the common experiences of disturbing
sounds in the residences.
In
Office Campuses. In the offices where people spend half of their lives, the
jarring hardships they have to endure are many.
The central court entrance hall, reverberating with disagreeable
combination of loud noises of street noise and visitor voices, the canteen
filled with and spilling out the continuous sound of techno-babble, the roof
top chiller unit transmitting down the painful vibrations, the recently
completed road connection or flyover sending in noise from speeding vehicles
even into the hitherto quiet conference room and the unavoidable voice-based
call-centres all add to the discomfort of the auditory sense.
Other
built spaces. Most of the sound
emanating from the general and common sources are unavoidable. The beating and
thumping from the disco clubs where people dance to the recorded pop music
disturbing the room guests in fashionable and flamboyant star Hotels, the
modern elevated light transit railway bringing in the clatter to a studio,
noise transfer between the adjacent halls of a multiplex, an action movie with
special sound – effects spoiling a peaceful romantic moment or missing out an
important announcement in public spaces are some of the resultant problems from
noise transference and noise magnification.
Normally
most of the architects and civil consultants the prime movers of the design
community, place emphasis on the visual and other comforts but often tend to
ignore acoustics. Attention is turned towards it only when it becomes a major
problem post - occupancy. Very few
projects requisition the services of acoustic experts to be on board at the
design stage. Most are in the misguided notion that an acoustic expert is
required only for special venues like cinemas, auditoria and studios. This is
an erroneous view. To understand enjoy
and realize the true potential of any built space, the second sense of mankind
ie., the hearing must be given its due importance.
To
give a similarity, while India had adopted Euro III norms for smoke emission
from vehicles, when most of the developed world is on Euro V in acoustics and
noise control we were still at Euro I, what the developed world was doing 20
years back. As India's GDP inexorably rises and we fancy ourselves as an
economic powerhouse, as we get used to the latest models of laptops, mobile
phones, automobiles and home appliances similar to Euro V, we must rapidly
upgrade the quality of sound around us to at-least Euro III if not Euro V. This
is certainly possible if more emphasis is given to acoustics and noise control
in built spaces.
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