Subjective evaluation of floor impact sound of wood-frame construction dwellings in different living situation

This paper presents the subjective difference of floor impact sound of wood-frame floors with different floor-ceiling systems. All impact sounds of wood-frame floors were measured in reverberation chamber with standardized rubber ball. The impact sound of concrete floor was also measured. Sheffe’s paired comparison method was used to obtain psychological scale values of each impact sound. The listening test confirmed that all wood-frame test floors are quieter than the RC floor, performance of larch plywood floor without resilient channel was lower than standard plywood floor but the performance of larch floor can be improved greatly with resilient channel. Furthermore, there are some cases those psychological scale value can differentiate conditions but the A-weighted maximum level cannot present differences between them.