Noise control strategies for naturally ventilated buildings

Natural ventilation openings offer little resistance to noise passage as the introduction of conventional passive noise control treatments will generally incur a large flow constraint. This paper reviews various noise control techniques and assesses the variation of airflow characteristics with sound insulation to road traffic noise of a facade incorporating ventilation openings. It is suggested that reactive and active techniques can possibly supplement conventional passive attenuation especially in the limiting low frequency region while adding minimal flow constraint to the ventilation path. Using such hybrid systems useful broad band sound reduction may be a real possibility for natural ventilation openings. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.