The Use of Sound Absorbing Shading Systems for the Attenuation of Noise on Building Façades. An Experimental Investigation

The purpose of this work is a preliminary consideration of the acoustic behaviour of brise-soleil systems and, furthermore, the evaluation of the possibility to improve their performances, in terms of Sound Pressure Level (SPL) abatement over glass surfaces. The paper reports the results of a study on two portions of the same office building, with shading devices installed in front of large windows. Both airborne sound insulation measurements and SPL measurements over the glass surfaces of the windows were carried out to compare different situations, with or without louvers, and with sound absorbing experimental louvers as well. Results show that sound absorbing louvers improve the noise protection of the system, in terms of the SPL reduction, over glass surfaces, cancelling out the negative effect of the standard shading devices.