Sound in the built environment, an introduction to the Technical Committee on Architectural Acoustics

Architectural acoustics covers a broad range of topics generally considering the design of buildings, the sound environment within buildings, the impact of environmental noise onto buildings, and noise emanating from buildings into the external environment. Many instinctively think of concert halls and music performance spaces as primary spaces for architectural acoustics, but the discipline covers all types of built environments including schools, healthcare facilities, residences, office buildings, industrial and manufacturing facilities, and recent hot topics such as data centers and sustainable design in architecture and engineering. The current scope of TCAA includes room acoustics, airborne and impact transmission in building structures, airborne and structure borne noise control, noise control of building systems, electro acoustics systems, and psychophysics and psycho acoustics. The technical committee is comprised of a broad range of individuals coving research, academia, consultants, architects, engineers, and manufacturers. Frequency collaboration with other technical committees such as Noise and Computational Acoustics increasing cross-pollination of ideas and knowledge within the Society. This presentation will provide a brief overview of the TCAA with some examples of recent research and hot topics.