EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON COUNTERMEASURES FOR HEAVY-WEIGHT FLOOR IMPACT SOUND AND PERCEIVED HARDNESS WHILE WALKING ON FLOORING AND CARPET CONSIDERING VIBRATION ISOLATION

This study developed flooring and carpet materials with consideration for vibration damping and conducted experimental evaluations on their effectiveness in reducing heavy-weight floor impact sound and their perceived hardness during walking. For the 63 Hz frequency band of heavy-weight impact sound, reductions of 1–3 dB were observed on a concrete slab, and 4–7 dB on dry-type floating floors. In terms of walking comfort, subjective evaluations indicated that the materials were generally perceived as neutral or easy to walk on, demonstrating a balance between acoustic performance and usability.