DASM Hotel Sound Insulation Test (STC, ISO 10140-2) at Vincom Ha Giang

In early November 2023, an acoustics expert from the Institute for Development & Application of Acoustic Materials (DASM) determined the sound insulation of a partition between two hotel rooms (STC rating, ISO 10140-2) at the Vincom Ha Giang Hotel & Commercial Center (TTTM) complex.

The importance of soundproof rooms to hotel services

Typing “soundproof hotel room” into Google returns 32.5 million results in 0.37 seconds. On direct hotel booking sites and price-comparison sites such as Booking.com, Agoda.com, Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Airbnb.com, Traveloka.com, Vntrip.vn, iVIVU.com, Travelmart.vn, Mytour.vn, Chudu24.com, Trivago.com, TripAdvisor.com, etc., this topic is given priority and presented as an essential, competitive category. It always draws particular attention and lively discussion, and it reflects the standing of accommodation brands and establishments.

In practice, the service package that hotels and resorts provide to give guests comfort and complete relaxation includes: cleanliness; tidy, neat arrangement and décor; quietness, free from noise or acoustic disturbance; good meals; strong WiFi… In recent years, Vietnam has gradually become an attractive and popular destination in Southeast Asia, and both domestic and international travelers increasingly expect good acoustic quality, effective noise-pollution control and memorable experiences. These requirements are receiving growing attention in modern construction trends and in architectural design and construction.

Moreover, if the building is equipped with a properly designed acoustic system and sound comfort treatment from the original design and basic construction stage, the cost is far lower than after completion or once the building is in operation.

Understanding this, for the Vincom Ha Giang project, Vingroup paid close attention not only to design but also to meticulous, rigorous consulting and supervision throughout. Located in Tran Phu ward in the center of Ha Giang City, Vincom Shophouse Ha Giang covers more than 21,000 m², divided into two main zones: the shophouse and a commercial center combined with a 20-storey hotel. Mr. Le Khac Hiep, Vice Chairman of Vingroup, said the Group expects Vincom Ha Giang to help transform the tourism and investment landscape of this northernmost region of the country. The building must therefore meet the highest acoustic requirements, in order to ensure restful sleep and fully comfortable private space for travelers from everywhere who come to this land famed for its majestic rocky plateau.

And naturally, on this project the Institute for Development & Application of Acoustic Materials (DASM) was entrusted by Vincom with a contract for measurement, testing and survey to determine the sound insulation of a partition between two rooms – STC (per ISO 10140-2), also known as the test for determining sound insulation in buildings and building elements – airborne sound insulation.

Airborne sound insulation survey and measurement procedure

The airborne sound insulation survey assesses the as-built ability of a wall, door or partition to resist sound transmitted through the air from one room to another, from one environment to another. The aim is to determine how the measured element performs across the mid-frequency range and to propose more suitable solutions for improving its sound insulation.

Procedure:
√ Identify the function of the measurement rooms: receiving room and source room.
√ Determine the positions of the sound measuring instruments and the sound source on the floor plan, as required for both the source room and the receiving room.
√ Set the measurement time to 10 seconds per measurement
√ Determine the sound level in the source room
√ Determine the sound level in the receiving room with the sound source switched on
√ Determine the reverberation time of the receiving room
√ Determine the background noise of the receiving room

Notes:

The most suitable time to measure is when the space is exposed to the highest noise from the surrounding environment.
The number of measurement points is based on the changing shapes of the spaces.
Measurement points are laid out on a grid at 3 m² per point

Standards used for the design work include:

International standards:

ISO 10140-2:2021 Acoustics – Laboratory measurement of sound insulation of building elements – Part 2: Measurement of airborne sound insulation.
ISO 717-1:1996 Acoustics – Rating of sound insulation in buildings and of building elements – Part 1: Airborne sound insulation.
ASTM E90-09 Standard Test Method for Laboratory Measurement of Airborne Sound Transmission Loss of Building Partitions and Elements.

Vietnamese standards and regulations:

QCVN 26:2010/BTNMT: Noise limits in areas where humans live and work.
TCXDVN 175:2005: Maximum Noise levels allowed for public buildings.
TCVN 7192-1:2002: Acoustics – Rating of sound insulation in buildings and of building elements – Part 1: Airborne sound insulation

A journey full of emotions

Ha Giang is about 320 km from central Hanoi. At 10 a.m., Dr. Vu Viet Dung, DASM Senior Expert, and his colleague Nguyen Van Nguyen began the trip from My Dinh bus station on a sleeper coach, an 8-hour ride. The journey stopped only once for a lunch break, and they reached the guesthouse at 6 p.m. A simple, quick late dinner followed at 8 p.m. Although both are seasoned in hands-on work on many projects at home and abroad, they were still rather anxious (partly out of a sense of responsibility for the job, and partly because of fatigue after the long journey) when told they would have to start measuring noise at 10 p.m. and work through the night.

Because sound measurement requires background noise below the permitted threshold, it is done at night, after all construction activity has completely stopped (no chiseling, drilling, hammering or talking, not even vehicle traffic outside…), which is an ideal condition. However, when they arrived at the site at ten to 10 p.m., contrary to the DASM team's expectations, the site was still working overtime, noisy and bustling with all kinds of sounds… They had to wait another hour in the center of Ha Giang City.

The contractor of Vincom Ha Giang has been committed to this project for the past four years. As the building had not yet been officially completed, two sealed rooms were fitted out so that DASM could measure the wall's sound insulation, with 6 points in the source room and 6 points in the receiving room. The whole site was still in disarray. Dr. Vu Viet Dung and his colleague went up to the sample room on the 8th floor by freight elevator. Since there was no electrical connection there yet, the two had to fetch power cables and run electricity in from outside to operate the measuring equipment. As a result, the wiring was only temporary. While pulling a power socket into the neighboring room, two bare wire ends touched, the whole room went pitch dark and short-circuited. “By 1 a.m. the next day the work was done. We finished determining the room's sound insulation with excitement as the results looked promising. The measured value was higher than I had initially expected. The construction supervision consultants supported DASM very enthusiastically. And from things that seem ordinary at first glance – a prepared standard sample floor, the contractor's acceptance record, a pre-photocopied measurement result sheet… – together with the diligent, focused and serious working atmosphere, we grew even more passionate about our work, because DASM and the client Vincom, as well as the Project Management Board, shared the same enthusiasm and professionalism.” – Dr. Vu Viet Dung shared.

Returning to Hanoi on the coach leaving at 10 a.m. the same day, the DASM team went on to complete the results analysis report for Vincom Ha Giang. Besides supporting the construction of standard-compliant soundproof hotel rooms, the test results can be used to compare the sound insulation properties of the partition between two hotel rooms, to classify elements by sound insulation performance, to help design building products that require certain acoustic properties, and to estimate in-situ performance in the completed building.

As one of the first and leading scientific organizations in acoustic consulting in Vietnam, DASM is honored and committed, with transparency and effectiveness, to providing customers with optimal acoustic solutions for hotels and resorts:

√ Sound insulation determination service for buildings and building elements – hotels and resorts
√ Hotel and resort noise measurement and analysis service
√ Overall acoustic measurement and improvement service for hotels and resorts
√ Hotel and resort sound insulation improvement service.

Please contact the Hotline 0968018216 of the Institute for Development & Application of Acoustic Materials (DASM) for detailed consultation!

 

Yen Vu / DASM