Acoustical Comfort
A good acoustic environment is absolutely essential to maintaining a high level satisfaction and moral health among residents.
The main elements that impact indoor noise involve indoor noise source and outdoor noise. For the indoor environment noise, electronic instruments (such as radios and televisions) are the main noise sources, and outdoor noise source involves traffic, industry and life noise. However, in big cities, the impact of outdoor noise on indoor comfort is a primary sector, so the indoor acoustic environment and comfort are also chiefly decided by outdoor noise. A good acoustic environment keeps noise at levels that do not interfere with activities within programmed space.
For indoor acoustic comfort and productivity of the office buildings or workplaces, the primary requirements of acoustic and speech privacy include the ability for individuals to speak and not be overheard by co-workers, and freedom from distractions caused by nearby conversations or other intruding noises. For the rest room or residence, favorable acoustic environment refers to the sound does not interfere with rest or sleep. To achieve positive acoustic quality in a room, such elements should be considered as sound isolation, building services noise and vibration control.
Acoustics
Acoustics is the science of the generation, propagation, transmission, reproduction, reception, measurement and effects of sound and of the phenomenon of hearing.
Sound is the psychological effect caused by an acoustical signal (physical phenomenon). The psychoacoustical perception of an acoustical signal i.e. sound may be; Music, Speech, Noise.
Music is composed of harmonic (periodical) sounds; it changes in time, in level, in pitch but there is a harmony among the way these changes happen. One –having musical ear- can determine the pitch (frequency) of a harmonic sound.
Speech is composed of harmonic (periodical) and aperiodic sound. The wovels are harmonic sounds and consonants are aperiodic sounds. Wovels and consonants pursue (follow) one another within short periods of time.
Noise –physically- is composed of aperiodic sounds.
