CHAMBER INVESTIGATION AND EVALUATION OF ACOUSTIC PROPERTIES OF MATERIALS

Traffic-generated noise accounts for 60-80% of the noise prevailing in towns. With the aim of reducing the impact of noise on humans, measures and methods of fighting noise in towns and residential areas should be developed. In the majority of cases, noise suppression walls (barriers) are one of the most suitable means in tows to reduce the dispersion of noise to residential territories. Acoustic properties of materials to be used for noise walls were investigated and, on the basis of the obtained findings, the most suitable materials with regard to noise reduction were proposed. A noise-suppression chamber was designed and installed for the experimental investigation into acoustic properties. Separate materials (fibreglass, wood chipboard, gypsum cardboard, foam polystyrene) were used for the experiment by composing various structures of different modifications. With the aim of evaluating the capacity of different materials to suppress noise, a coefficient was used to evaluate noise suppression in a material thickness measuring unit. Efficiency of the noise reduction structures used in the experiment is described by a separate index. Different materials differently suppress the dispersion of noise of various frequencies, whereas the structures of wood chipboards (10 mm) filled with fibreglass or rock wool are the most efficient in all frequency ranges compared with acoustic properties of other structures used during the experiment.