A Review of Acoustic Consideration in Public and Multifunctional Building Design

Abstract

This review paper has considered acoustics in public and multi-functional buildings design in the light of published information with the aim of bringing to our understanding the importance of acoustics liveness in multifunctional buildings. It has been shown that acoustics in buildings depend mainly on the type and use of the buildings, therefore acoustic criteria and design parameters in public and multifunctional buildings should be such that it takes into consideration the room reverberation time, background noise and sound isolation to enhance speech intelligibility and privacy. Depending on the use of the building, the acoustic materials that should be used in the design of architectural surfaces should either reflect sound, absorb sound, or diffuse sound. Therefore, for optimal intelligibility of music and speech, it must be ensured that wall and ceiling surfaces in the stage or sending end of the room are sound-reflective and somewhat diffusive, to both project sounds out to an audience and to enhance performers’ abilities to hear themselves and blend with one another.

Keywords: Acoustics, Public buildings, Reverberation time, Background noise, Speech intelligibility