The Relevance to the Real World of Ec Intercomparison Studies on the Sound Insulation of Windows

As part of the EC research and development programme into the eld of applied metroiogy and reference materials the Community Bureau of Reference (BCR) instigated an intercomparison study into the measurement of sound insulation of window panes in thirteen European laboratories.The results of this study have been published [1] and in an earlier paper [2] the contribution made by the two UK participating laboratories MR0 and SALFORD was described along with the more important ndings.That study raised a number of important issues and BCR agreed to support further work aimed at both improving measurement con dence and at introducing factors relevant to real installations.These included: A) lntercomparison of measurements of noise attenuation by double glazed windows in frames.B) The effect of window pane mounting methods on noise attenuation measurements.C) The development of guidelines for the choice of loudspeaker positions for building acoustic laboratory measurements.In addition, as pan of studies A and B. participating laboratories were asked to extend their measurements down to SOHz.Seventeen European laboratories took part in A and seven laboratories in B but C was restricted to three participants.SALFORD took pan in A and B and AIRO in A.