Fenestration West – Acoustic Performance of Windows

14 May Fenestration West – Acoustic Performance of Windows

BKL was invited to talk about the acoustic performance of windows at the latest Fenestration West conference, as summarized in the Fall 2013 Fenstration West magazine. Employee Brizi Coetzer, MMus(technology), EIT, presented and Rich Porayko summarized her talk on the Glass Canada website, calling it “One of the standout presentations.”

Speaking on a very timely, technical topic, Coetzer provided an excellent introduction and clearly explained the basics of sound, magnitude, frequencies, decibels, noise types and how humans hear all of the above. – Rich Porayko, Glass Canada

Most Metro Vancouver municipalities have requirements in place to ensure that new residential projects proposed for high noise environments will be designed to achieve acceptable interior noise levels. Although exterior walls, roofs, doors and ventilation will sometimes require upgrading, windows are often the controlling factor with respect to interior noise levels. Brizi explained outdoor-to indoor sound transmission and other fenestration industry relevant acoustics topics, such as:

• Single number ratings STC and OITC
• Mass law
• Coincidence effect
• Mass-air-mass resonances
• Laminated glass
• Glass panel size
• Window seals

Brizi also shed light on some common acoustical myths in the industry:

• Triple-pane glazing doesn’t offer higher acoustic performance than a double-pane window with the same total glass weight and the same overall section depth
• While gas-filled glazing units perform acoustically better at some frequencies and worse at others when compared to air filled units, on average there is no improvement for traffic noise isolation with gas-filled window units.
• Tempered glass does not provide the acoustic performance of laminated glass.

BKL is very proud of Brizi’s great presentation representing the company, demonstrating our leadership in acoustic knowledge and sharing that knowledge within the Pacific Northwest.

To read more on Brizi’s speech, please see Rich Porayko’s full article Sound Advice.