Abstract:

After more than 20 years of effort, American National Standard ``Criteria for Evaluating Room Noise'' ANSI S12.2-1995 was released. ANSI S12.2 is not a good standard because it offers two different possibilities to evaluate the acceptability of the sound in an occupied space with the potential for large differences in the cost of conformance and insufficient guidance to a user on how to choose between them. As members of both the ASHRAE TC2.6 and ASA S12/WG18 committees responsible for the preparation of the ANSI S12.2 standard the authors see the need for inter-society partnership to resolve the conflict. Two panel discussion sessions (ASA Boston Chapter meeting on 21 November 1995; and NOISE-CON96 Conference on 30 September 1996); one technical session (NOISE-CON96 ``Room Noise Criteria---The Next 25 Years'') and the response from the acoustical and engineering community have served to show that there are enough data to develop a road map for consensus. After the NOISE-CON96 sessions, many attendants have asked for a report. A report entitled ``Room Noise Criteria---The Next 25 Years'' was generated, which documents the findings of these sessions. This paper is a brief summary of the said report. [See NOISE-CON Proceedings for full paper.]