Comfort of the users trough acoustics
Since we spend most of our time indoors, it is crucial to improve our understanding of all aspects relevant to comfort and well-being in the built environment. The acoustic aspect is often overlooked, despite being essential for verbal communication, personal interaction, privacy, rest, and productivity. Despite these concerns, noise in the built environment is one of the most common causes of complaints, indicating that we either fail to design buildings appropriately or simply do not understand what is acoustically relevant well enough. Another challenge is the use of lightweight materials such as timber, which is necessary for sustainable construction but can compromise acoustic performance if used incorrectly. The webinar will present the requirements for acoustic comfort, quantitative evaluations, and parameters such as sound insulation and reverberation time. Sound perception will be discussed, and methods for assessing users’ perceptual preferences will be introduced. The goal is to better understand acoustic design requirements that lead to a healthier and more productive built environment.
The webinar is organized into the following thematic sections:
- Fundamentals of acoustics
- Sound perception
- Room acoustics
- Building acoustics
Rok Prislan
Dr Rok Prislan is an assistant professor at the University of Primorska and the Head of the research department for Buildings at InnoRenew CoE. Rok is leading research in the field of acoustics at InnoRenew CoE with his main research topics being advanced measurement techniques for sound field characterization and geometrical room acoustic modelling.
Before joining InnoRenew CoE, Rok was working as an acoustic designer/consultant and has led over 60 projects in the field of acoustics and noise control. He has been in charge of the acoustic design of a large span of buildings, including theatres, studios, concert venues and offices. His practical experience is complemented with R&D projects that include room acoustic analysis in the cloud, smart acoustic elements and artificial acoustic environments.
