These design guidelines are intended to provide general
information about noise and vibration control to project engineers charged with designing mechanical and electrical systems for the NIH. They cover situations that arise in the design process and significant items to check at design reviews. As a supplement to other sources of technical information such as the Sound and Vibration Control section of the ASHRAE Systems and Applications Handbook and the advice of an acoustical consultant, they are intended to help the engineers to achieve appropriate sound and vibration levels required by the program functions.
D.8.2 Background Noise
All rooms in all buildings, except special acoustical laboratories,
are exposed to some level of audible and measurable ambient sound. It may be due to nearby street traffic, but more often it is governed by the building's own mechanical system. Ambient sound should be, and usually is, anonymous in character. This is an accepted acoustical condition to which we are almost always exposed. The ambient sound should never be so loud as to interfere with speech or telephone use in a space. Yet frequently the presence of modest levels of ambient sound is needed to mask distracting extraneous sounds.
Each such noise is characterized by a certain spectrum indicating
the sound pressure level at various frequencies. Very often, the spectrum of a noise is as important as its absolute level. Although speech and airplane takeoff may be perceived as being about the same loudness, it is much more difficult to attenuate the lower- frequency noise. The level of such background sounds is commonly related to a series of noise criteria (NC) or room criteria (RC) curves. These spectra have been developed to account for the approximate sensitivity of the human ear to high-frequency noise over low-frequency noise and also to the typical spectrum of human speech. The NC/RC value for a given spectrum is then determined by its highest point in relation to the NC curves. To determine the NC/RC value in the field, sound pressure levels should be measured with an octave-band sound-level meter.
Twelve-Week Biomechanical Ankle Platform System Training On Postural Stability and Ankle Proprioception in Subjects With Unilateral Functional Ankle Instability