Single-Number Quantities of Heavyweight Impact Sound Insulation

This study aims to determine which single-number quantities (SNQs) of heavyweight impact sounds are the most appropriate for explaining subjective response. Two hundred and eleven participants participated in the listening experiment in Korea (Experiment I) to assess heavyweight impact sounds generated by a rubber ball and an adult jumping in heavyweight and lightweight buildings. A small-scale listening test (Experiment II) was then performed in the UK to validate Experiment I with 43 European participants. For all the sounds with different sound sources and building types, L _iA,Fmax was the best SNQ although other predictors also showed relatively high correlation coefficients with annoyance ratings. Experiment II confirmed the findings of Experiment I, implying that L _iA,Fmax is the most effective SNQ across ethnicity.