Impact sound insulation performance measurements on CLT floors – Effect of excitation source type: Tapping machine and rubber ball

Laboratory and field measurements of the impact sound acoustic performance of a CLT wood-based floors have been performed. French national regulation requires the use of the standardized tapping machine for impact sound performance measurements. Since the early 2000s, rubber ball impact source has been standardized in some Asian countries to measure and evaluate the low frequency impact sound performance of floors; this excitation source is now part of international standards concerning building acoustic measurement in laboratories and in-situ. Indeed, the impact sound level associated to this soft impact source is supposed to provide a better correlation with annoyance from jumping and/or running children in buildings. The paper reviews the measurements performed using the standard tapping machine and the rubber ball as impact source, on CLT based floors in a laboratory, as well as those on the CLT based experimental building. Impact sound improvements are presented and discussed. The necessity of measuring with both impact sources, rather than only with the tapping machine is examined.