OTGV #17 - White Noises
Broadcasted on 18/11/02
Singapore has over 6 thousand people packed into one square kilometre.
So the lack of personal space and its attendant effects such as noise is something that all Singaporeans grow up with.
Hi, I am Chong Ching Liang and this is On the Grapevine.
This week I discuss with two practitioner on acoustic design in residential developments.
An acoustic engineer, Michael Dowsett explains why neighbourly relations may be impacted if there isn't good acoustic design in modern highrise homes.
"Neighbours aren’t conducive to your requests to please keep the noise down, and we all know what it’s like trying to sleep when there’s a party going on next door. And the fuse gets shorter and shorter and you know, I think that you could certainly say that there’s an increase in annoyance due to the noise can lead to violence and more outbursts and a greater level of dis-satisfaction due to your neighbours."
In these days of high-powered home entertainment systems, President of the Singapore Institute of Architect, John Ting, concurs.
"I think it is an important element because as you pack more people into a smaller area, social interactions will be affected by the noise created by the residents. Put it this way lah, a good of ambient noise is good but you need to control the level and also the intermittent levels created by the hifi sets, or televisions, or mechanism that actually generate loud noise."
Ironically, the advances in building technology has exacerbated the problem of noise.
"Now in the old days, we used to use bricks for partition wall and of course in the old days, people use simple hifi sets. Now with new technologies coming along, people are moving towards pre-fabrication, hollow block walls for example in the construction of the building units. At the same time, sound system are getting a lot more developed now so there will be an increase in the level of noise transfer between housing units."
In developed western countries, there's now a demand for good acoustic design for residential units to prevent excessive noise transfer says Michael.
"as purchasers become more sophisticated, become more aware, become more educated on what they need to consider when they are making a purchase, they need to consider all these factors. It’s like as part of a checklist you know: does it have a kindergarten nearby, does the school bus stop, you know you add is the acoustic performance acceptable? Am I going to grow crazy listening to my neighbour watching his tv at 9 o’clock in the morning. So it depends on the factors that are driving this equation and I think until the developers and designers can see that there is a downside to not performing the acoustic of the performance, they will continue to save money by just installing only what they need to install."
In Singapore, acoustic design are missing in the bulk of the most prestigious private residential developments.
John Ting thinks there may be a cultural reason behind this lack of demand.
"Asians being Asians, culturally we are more tolerant to ambient noise, more tolerant to a high level of noise compared to the westerner. Singapore, for example, the general rule of thumb is that traffic noise and the noise coming in from the outside of the housing estate should be below 60 decibels."
Sometimes the market demand for good acoustic design manifests itself in the form of civil lawsuits.
Michael Dowsett again.
"in Australia for instance it’s more and more apparent to developers and designers, the importance of acoustic treatment. There’s been a number of court cases particularly in Sydney, where residents have actually taken their developers to courts for sub-standard acoustic performance of their dwellings. And that has resulted in certainly greater awareness from developers and in fact providing acoustic performances which is greater than the minimum requirements specified in the building code."
In Singapore, public planning has taken note of the need to reduce the ambient noise levels even though good acoustic treatment hasn't made it to most building designs yet.
John Ting again
"From [a] planning perspective, the HDB also the S-I-A, the professional people are aware of this and as such there are certain planning parametres. We can use the set--back from teh road as one mechanism. Further you are set back from the road the less noise that comes into the unit. One very good thing that we can use which is ecologically very sensitive and friendly is using nature to our advantage by planting thick foliage between the road and the housing unit because the nature the leaves and the trees actually break down the sound waves so that the sound when they comes through the foliage, they actually become muted."
Both experts agree that proper sound proofing at the design stage is important as retrofitting an apartment can prove to be even more costly.
But ultimately, as architect John Ting explains, the definition of what is an appropriate noise level is to be set by the society.
"It's a question of where we draw the line that society at this level we can all agree at this level we can all tolerate. Beyond that let's do something about it. Rather than no white noise at all or don't control it at all. No white noise we probably go abit insane and berzerk you know, because human beings are social animals, need a bit of noise to keep us all more or less in touch with society. But the question is where we draw the line that is reasonable for everybody to say that 'Yes, that's a good level that we can live with and that's a good level that can still allow us to do a lot of things at home without making too much noise."
Tune in to the next programme as I find out if good sound design can tuned out the excessive noise levels of screaming F-16s in a place like Jurong West.
This is Chong Ching Liang for Newsradio 938.
===========================
Related Websites:
Newsradio938
http://newsradio.mediacorpradio.com/
Singapore has over 6 thousand people packed into one square kilometre.
So the lack of personal space and its attendant effects such as noise is something that all Singaporeans grow up with.
Hi, I am Chong Ching Liang and this is On the Grapevine.
This week I discuss with two practitioner on acoustic design in residential developments.
An acoustic engineer, Michael Dowsett explains why neighbourly relations may be impacted if there isn't good acoustic design in modern highrise homes.
"Neighbours aren’t conducive to your requests to please keep the noise down, and we all know what it’s like trying to sleep when there’s a party going on next door. And the fuse gets shorter and shorter and you know, I think that you could certainly say that there’s an increase in annoyance due to the noise can lead to violence and more outbursts and a greater level of dis-satisfaction due to your neighbours."
In these days of high-powered home entertainment systems, President of the Singapore Institute of Architect, John Ting, concurs.
"I think it is an important element because as you pack more people into a smaller area, social interactions will be affected by the noise created by the residents. Put it this way lah, a good of ambient noise is good but you need to control the level and also the intermittent levels created by the hifi sets, or televisions, or mechanism that actually generate loud noise."
Ironically, the advances in building technology has exacerbated the problem of noise.
"Now in the old days, we used to use bricks for partition wall and of course in the old days, people use simple hifi sets. Now with new technologies coming along, people are moving towards pre-fabrication, hollow block walls for example in the construction of the building units. At the same time, sound system are getting a lot more developed now so there will be an increase in the level of noise transfer between housing units."
In developed western countries, there's now a demand for good acoustic design for residential units to prevent excessive noise transfer says Michael.
"as purchasers become more sophisticated, become more aware, become more educated on what they need to consider when they are making a purchase, they need to consider all these factors. It’s like as part of a checklist you know: does it have a kindergarten nearby, does the school bus stop, you know you add is the acoustic performance acceptable? Am I going to grow crazy listening to my neighbour watching his tv at 9 o’clock in the morning. So it depends on the factors that are driving this equation and I think until the developers and designers can see that there is a downside to not performing the acoustic of the performance, they will continue to save money by just installing only what they need to install."
In Singapore, acoustic design are missing in the bulk of the most prestigious private residential developments.
John Ting thinks there may be a cultural reason behind this lack of demand.
"Asians being Asians, culturally we are more tolerant to ambient noise, more tolerant to a high level of noise compared to the westerner. Singapore, for example, the general rule of thumb is that traffic noise and the noise coming in from the outside of the housing estate should be below 60 decibels."
Sometimes the market demand for good acoustic design manifests itself in the form of civil lawsuits.
Michael Dowsett again.
"in Australia for instance it’s more and more apparent to developers and designers, the importance of acoustic treatment. There’s been a number of court cases particularly in Sydney, where residents have actually taken their developers to courts for sub-standard acoustic performance of their dwellings. And that has resulted in certainly greater awareness from developers and in fact providing acoustic performances which is greater than the minimum requirements specified in the building code."
In Singapore, public planning has taken note of the need to reduce the ambient noise levels even though good acoustic treatment hasn't made it to most building designs yet.
John Ting again
"From [a] planning perspective, the HDB also the S-I-A, the professional people are aware of this and as such there are certain planning parametres. We can use the set--back from teh road as one mechanism. Further you are set back from the road the less noise that comes into the unit. One very good thing that we can use which is ecologically very sensitive and friendly is using nature to our advantage by planting thick foliage between the road and the housing unit because the nature the leaves and the trees actually break down the sound waves so that the sound when they comes through the foliage, they actually become muted."
Both experts agree that proper sound proofing at the design stage is important as retrofitting an apartment can prove to be even more costly.
But ultimately, as architect John Ting explains, the definition of what is an appropriate noise level is to be set by the society.
"It's a question of where we draw the line that society at this level we can all agree at this level we can all tolerate. Beyond that let's do something about it. Rather than no white noise at all or don't control it at all. No white noise we probably go abit insane and berzerk you know, because human beings are social animals, need a bit of noise to keep us all more or less in touch with society. But the question is where we draw the line that is reasonable for everybody to say that 'Yes, that's a good level that we can live with and that's a good level that can still allow us to do a lot of things at home without making too much noise."
Tune in to the next programme as I find out if good sound design can tuned out the excessive noise levels of screaming F-16s in a place like Jurong West.
This is Chong Ching Liang for Newsradio 938.
===========================
Related Websites:
Newsradio938
http://newsradio.mediacorpradio.com/
posted by CHONG Ching-liang | 2:20 PM
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