Towards better understanding and communication of uncertainty in architectural acoustics and noise control

The fields of architectural acoustics and noise control involve conducting measurements, running analyses, modeling, and making predictions about the behavior of sound in the built environment. Such tasks inherently involve uncertain aspects that affect the reliability of results. This presentation presents a general philosophy around uncertainty with suggestions on how to acknowledge and approach uncertainty, in an effort to move those involved in architectural acoustics and noise control toward better understanding and communication of uncertainty. Terminology, concepts, and pertinent standards that address uncertainty are also reviewed.