A subjective study of source types and rating methods for impact sounds in buildings

Impact sound in buildings is still an intensely debated topic, which is due to the complicated nature of the source mechanisms involved and the lack of understanding regarding the effects on building occupants. To better understand this issue, together with international partners the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada is currently carrying out a multifaceted study on impact sound in buildings. Measurements are made on different floor / ceiling assemblies in the floor testing facility of the NRC according to the relevant standards. In addition, impact sounds with different source types are recorded on the same assemblies with an artificial head and a first-order Ambisonics microphone in the same facility in a configuration with a reduced reverberation time. These additional recordings are used in subjective studies where the recorded sounds are played back to participants to elicit their response to different stimuli. In this paper, the recording and Ambisonics reproduction setup at the NRC are described. Preliminary results from the first subjective test are discussed and an outlook on the next stages of this work is given.