• Journal of Audiology & Otology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.76-82
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• 2019

Background and Objectives: Noise levels and room acoustic parameters at a tertiary referral hospital, Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH) in Korea, are investigated. Materials and Methods: Through a questionnaire, acoustically problematic rooms are identified. Noise levels in emergency rooms (ERs) and intensive care units (ICUs) are measured over about three days. Acoustically critical and problematic rooms in the otolaryngology department are measured including examination rooms, operating rooms, nurse stations, receptions, and patient rooms. Results: The A-weighted equivalent noise level, L_Aeq, ranges from 54 to 56 dBA, which is at least 10 dB lower than the noise levels of 65 to 73 dBA measured in American ERs. In an ICU, the noise level for the first night was 66 dBA, which came down to 56 dBA for the next day. The noise levels during three different ear surgeries vary from 57 to 62 dBA, depending on the use of surgical drills and suctions. The noise levels in a patient room is found to be 47 dBA, while the nurse stations and the receptions have high noise levels up to 64 dBA. The reverberation times in an operation room, examination room, and single patient room are found to be below 0.6 s. Conclusions: At SNUH, the nurse stations and receptions were found to be quite noisy. The ERs were quieter than in the previous studies. The measured reverberation times seemed low enough but some other nurse stations and examination rooms were not satisfactory according to the questionnaire.

• Korean Journal of Audiology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.76-82
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• 2019

Background and Objectives: Noise levels and room acoustic parameters at a tertiary referral hospital, Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH) in Korea, are investigated. Materials and Methods: Through a questionnaire, acoustically problematic rooms are identified. Noise levels in emergency rooms (ERs) and intensive care units (ICUs) are measured over about three days. Acoustically critical and problematic rooms in the otolaryngology department are measured including examination rooms, operating rooms, nurse stations, receptions, and patient rooms. Results: The A-weighted equivalent noise level, L_Aeq, ranges from 54 to 56 dBA, which is at least 10 dB lower than the noise levels of 65 to 73 dBA measured in American ERs. In an ICU, the noise level for the first night was 66 dBA, which came down to 56 dBA for the next day. The noise levels during three different ear surgeries vary from 57 to 62 dBA, depending on the use of surgical drills and suctions. The noise levels in a patient room is found to be 47 dBA, while the nurse stations and the receptions have high noise levels up to 64 dBA. The reverberation times in an operation room, examination room, and single patient room are found to be below 0.6 s. Conclusions: At SNUH, the nurse stations and receptions were found to be quite noisy. The ERs were quieter than in the previous studies. The measured reverberation times seemed low enough but some other nurse stations and examination rooms were not satisfactory according to the questionnaire.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.339-347
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• 2014

Floor impact sound in high-rise apartment building became one of social problems. A lot of civil complaints on floor impact sound occur continuously and the number of disputes between neighbors in small and aged apartment buildings is increasing. Interests on heavy-weight impact sound pressure level measurement and evaluation method is increased. Previous study reported that heavy-weight impact sound level was changed by the sound field condition of receiving reverberation chamber. In this study, heavy-weight impact sound pressure level change by the receiving sound field condition was measured in standard test facility and mock-up test room. These two experimental conditions were designed to simulate averaged living room of common apartment units. By the change of sound absorption power in receiving room, heavy-weight impact sound pressure level in most of frequency bands were changed in standard test facility and mock-up room. Normalized maximum sound pressure level regulated in ISO 16032 showed wider range of heavy/soft impact sound pressure level. Heavy/soft impact sound pressure level change was became smaller by the application of standardized maximum sound pressure level and ISO/CD 10140-3 Amd 2 method. In the case of standardized maximum sound pressure level, absolute sound pressure level changed. From these results, receiving sound field correction method regulated in ISO/CD 10140-3 Amd 2 is needed for the precision measurement and evaluation of heavy-weight impact sound.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.429-436
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• 2012

In concert halls and auditoriums, acoustic reflector and stage enclosure is one of the main factors on the room and stage acoustic characteristics. As a stage enclosure and acoustic reflector honey comb based light-weight reflector is widely used, because it is easy to install. However, there was not enough research on the surface density effect on room and stage acoustics. In this study, sound absorption coefficient tests on three kinds of wooden acoustic reflectors with different surface density were conducted. Surface density of acoustic reflector was changed from 11 kg/$m^2$ to 41 kg/$m^2$. For the low frequency excitation, sub-woofer was used with omnidirectional loud-speaker simultaneously. From the experiments, it was found that sound absorption coefficient below 250 Hz band was decrease by the increment of surface density. In order to check the influence of the surface density on room and stage acoustic parameters, room acoustic simulation was conducted with sound absorption coefficients, which were tested in reverberation chamber. By the increment of surface density of acoustic reflector, RT(reverberation time) and EDT(early decay time) were increased. Also, ST(stage support) was improved in low frequency bands.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.539-540
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• 2008

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2009.04a
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• pp.159-160
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• 2009

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Educational Facilities
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.3-11
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• 2011

In this study, the effect of treating 1-dimensional diffusers on the classroom acoustics was investigated to determine if the diffuser are beneficial for performing the preferred acoustical conditions for speech. A 1/10 scale model of a classroom was used to measure the acoustical parameters, T30, $C_{50}$, STI and SNR in that room. The room acoustical conditions were varied by treating diffusers either on the front or side walls of the classroom. When the diffusers were treated on the side walls around the student's areas, a shorter reverberation time at low frequencies was obtained and resulted in performing uniform reverberation times across the frequency bands. The $C_{50}$ values at mid- and high-frequencies were increased by treating the diffusers either on front or side wall surfaces. The highest STI and SNR values were obtained when the diffuser was treated on the front wall around the teacher's areas. It is found that diffusers are beneficial to increase the intelligibility of speech for the rear seats of the rooms.

• Proceedings of the Acoustical Society of Korea Conference
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• 1984.12a
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• pp.86-90
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• 1984

In this paper, a method measuring the reverberation time simultaneously on all of the audio frequency range was studied. The system developed in this study is composed of a pink noise generator, filter bank, and microcomputer with graphic display. In the experiment, reverbration time data measured by existing analog method and by the system were compared, and were almost same through the audio frequency. Based on the conclusion, the subject method has more convenience and accuracy with algorithm program development without existing problems and it was found out that this kind of method is widely available for many branches of room accoustics and architectual acoustics.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.392-396
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• 2001

Revision of KS, Korean Standards, is currently actively discussed. It is just the time for a new world class standards under the new system with WTO, World Trade Organization. This paper is a part of “Researchs on the Standards in the Building Acoustic Field”, as one of KS revision projects. The aim of this study is to define the requirements for measuring the reverberation time and other major room acoustical parameters.

• Proceedings of the Acoustical Society of Korea Conference
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• 1994.06a
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• pp.680-685
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• 1994

The acoustic phenomena in the actual sound systems involve a variety of compound problems. In this paper, the well-known Bayes' theorem is first employed and expanded into orthonormal and non-orthonomal series forms matched to the digital processing of lower and higher order statistical informations and the noisy observations. Proposed on-line algorithms of digital filter type are applied to the actual state estimation for a reverberation characteristics in a room under contamination of background noises.