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When most people hear the word “pollution”, they usually think of air pollution, water pollution, plastic pollution or even ground contamination. Noise pollution is often overlooked, despite being a significant and widespread public health issue worldwide.
How prevalent is noise pollution? The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) estimates that 20 million Americans work, live, and play in areas where environmental noise is dangerously high. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates forty percent of Europe’s population (297 million) is exposed to road traffic levels exceeding safe levels, while the University of Michigan estimates 100 million Americans experience a continuous average exposure level of 70 decibels over 24 hours (this is like standing near a washing machine all day). As such, hundreds of millions of people are exposed to overly high noise levels which, over the medium and long term, pose significant health risks, including cardiovascular issues, sleep disturbances, cognitive impairment, and an increased risk of dementia and depression.
Interior Acoustics is Overlooked in Ontario and Canada
Noise pollution is a serious issue that requires collective action. Thankfully, Canada and Ontario are relatively progressive when it comes to protecting people from environmental noise. Environmental noise emanates from the outdoors, and typically consists of noise produced by roadways, transit systems, airports and industrial operations.
Most projects in the Province of Ontario and Canada require some type of Noise Impact Assessment to protect the end-users or the public from environmental noise. These environmental noise assessments are typically required as part of the development approval process, Environmental Assessments (EAs) or Environmental Compliance Approvals (ECAs). LEA works with architects, developers, owners, and other engineers to develop cost-effective noise control measures. These measures can include upgraded building partitions, noise barriers, silencers, enclosures, or even reviewing a noisy process or operation.
While several regulated requirements address external noise in Ontario, there are very few regulated requirements for controlling noise emanating from the interior of a building. These requirements are limited to those stipulated in the Ontario Building Code (OBC), which deal with sound transmission requirements between partitions (e.g. sound transmission across a wall to another room).
The reason the OBC requirements are insufficient is that several noise sources inside a building that cannot be mitigated through upgraded partitions. These noise sources include duct-borne ventilation noise, mechanical equipment vibrations travelling through the building’s structure and thereby generating noise, and plumbing system noise, to name a few. Although several international standards, (e.g. ANSI, ISO, ASTM, and ASHRAE) provide criteria related to these internal noise sources, they are followed voluntarily and inconsistently in Ontario given they are not regulated requirements.
As a result, spaces may not function as intended due to noise, even though all regulated requirements were met (e.g. OBC or MECP requirements). This gap in interior noise performance standards can lead to costly and impractical retrofitting solutions. We have seen luxurious multi-million-dollar penthouse condominium units perfectly insulated from external noise, yet experience persistent noise issues because the mechanical penthouse is located directly above the unit’s bedroom. In such cases, the mechanical equipment was either not isolated properly or could have been positioned elsewhere to reduce impact. We have also seen bedrooms placed right on top of a building’s garbage truck loading area (and we know how loud those metal bins and prongs can be at 7 AM), or open-concept offices that have high reverberation times (lots of echo) resulting in an environment where it is difficult to focus and comprehend speech. Solutions for these issues after the fact often require retrofitting, which can be costly and inefficient.
How Can We Help Tackle Noise
LEA recommends getting an acoustical consultant involved in your projects as early in the process as possible, even when acoustics may not necessarily be seen as a critical discipline. In most cases, addressing noise issues through design results in added value to a project while keeping noise control costs down.
To help our clients deal with noise, LEA develops project-specific acoustics specifications based on their needs and works in tandem with the project team to achieve these specifications during the design process. Examples of specifications include space-specific maximum background levels due to internal noise (e.g. mechanical ventilation noise), speech intelligibility requirements (e.g. for institutional uses), and privacy requirements (e.g. for secure facilities or lawyer offices).
The cost of developing and meeting these acoustic requirements is minimal compared to the overall cost of the project, yet the benefits are significant. A project with acoustics designed for its intended uses significantly improves the user experience, increases productivity, and significantly, has a positive impact on people’s health and well-being.
Need help with noise and vibration in your projects? Find out how LEA’s acoustic consultants can help, visit: LEA - Our Services - Noise & Vibration