Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBPRoom acoustics have a significant impact on our well-being and productivity in environments such as daycare centers, schools, offices and production facilities. Unfortunately, room acoustics are often suboptimal. This can lead to an unpleasant working or learning environment, a lack of inclusion and even negative health effects. It is therefore important to plan room acoustics effectively and to use acoustic measures such as absorbers for a variety of reasons. As awareness of sustainability increases, so does the demand for environmentally friendly absorbers in room acoustics. This is reflected in the growing number of construction projects in which environmental aspects play a crucial role and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) are required for building materials. As a rule, conventional tools for designing room acoustics focus mainly on acoustic parameters such as reverberation time.
GreenAcoustics – conceptual design and prototypical implementation of a digital online tool for incorporating sustainability indicators in the design of room acoustics
Project goals
In the GreenAcoustics project, Fraunhofer IBP is working together with “SPÄH designed acoustic” to develop a digital tool that takes a more comprehensive approach and to implement it as a prototype. The tool will be based on Fraunhofer IBP's existing reverberate technology, which uses not only the usual acoustic parameters, but also the shape of the room and the uneven distribution of absorbers in the room to calculate the reverberation time. In addition, the project is now developing the foundations for integrating the ecological impacts of the manufacture and installation of acoustic measures into the planning process. This is being done using the products from “SPÄH designed acoustic” as an example. However, the underlying approach should be generalizable so that room acoustics can be designed and life cycle assessments made simultaneously using products from other manufacturers.
The project uses a typical, scalable rectangular room for which different room acoustic equipment options can be selected. Based on this, the reverberation time is calculated, and the resulting CO2 equivalents of these combinations are analyzed.
The result makes it possible to directly compare design and acoustic aspects as well as the environmental impact. This allows more informed decisions to be made and enables the implementation of room acoustic measures to be optimized in all respects.
Project partners
- Karl Späh GmbH & Co. KG