Christchurch Glass

NOISE TYPE	dB RATING	CHANGE IN PERCEPTION COMPARED TO BEDROOM
Bedroom at night	25
Library	25	twice as noisy
Living Room	45	4 times as noisy
General Office	55	8 times as noisy
Loud Speech	65	16 times as noisy
City Traffic	75	32 times as noisy
Concert Orchestra	95	128 times as noisy
Loud Car Horn from 1 meter	110	300+ times as noisy

THIS INFORMATION IS OFFERED AS A GENERAL GUIDE ONLY AND IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR DETAILED TECHNICAL ADVICE

Christchurch Glass disclaims all liability for loss or damage suffered from the use of this data

SOUND CONTROL

The amount of sound transmitted through a window is not directly altered by the size of the window - small window will allow almost the same perceived amount of sound to penetrate as large windows. Sound transmission through the window glass can be reduced in several ways, such as by installing insulated glass units, by installing special "soundstop" laminated glass, or by installing double windows with at least a 100mm air gap between the panes.

Sound is measured in decibels (dB); for every 10dB increase in the measured sound level, the perceived sound doubles; for example, a bedroom at night would have a sound 35dB, - twice as noisy as the bedroom. Glazing should be selected to reduce sound to a level where the noise from the outside does not annoy the occupants at their normal tasks. Some glazing options and their sound reduction performance are given below.

GLAZING OPTIONS FOR SOUND REDUCTION

GLASS TYPE

3mm WINDOW GLASS

5mm WINDOW GLASS

6.38mm LAMINATED GLASS

7mm SOUNDSTOP LAMINATE

INSULATED UNIT WITH 4mm GLASS

INSULATED UNIT WITH SOUND STOP

12.38mm LAMINATED GLASS

PERCEIVED REDUCTION IN SOUND

0%

15%

40%

52%

20%

57%

57%