Dissertação para obtenção do grau de mestre em - Universidade ...

Abstract
Although the evolution of modern building services has brought improvements to our daily life, these
improvements may also induce other problems, such as the appearance of unpleasant noise.
Mechanical devices are often related with problems such as building vibration or low frequency noise.
The existing regulations and standards, namely the European standard EN ISO 140, include some
recommendations while analyzing situations related with low frequency noise. Nevertheless and
because these recommendations are mainly focused on laboratory measurements, the field analysis of
annoyance caused by low frequency noise is still in need of more standardization.
In the present thesis, three real cases of annoyance by vibration and low frequency noise where
analyzed. In the first phase the analysis consisted on experimental measurements to check the
acoustical behavior of building elements and surroundings. In the second phase an experimental
characterization was carried out to describe the annoyance situation. This characterization was made
based on existing regulations and non-normalized parameters.
The first case which was studied was related with the propagation of noise, to a dwelling in the last
floor, originated by the mechanical ventilation on the rooftop. In the second case, which occurred in the
same building, the annoyance source was an automatic garage door, located in the ground floor next
to a living room. In the other flat the annoyance was caused by the normal functioning of a drying
machine, which was located in a kitchen next to a sleeping room.
The measurements and analysis carried out had the purpose to understand if existing regulations are
effective in describing annoyance situations caused by low frequency noise.
Keywords: Annoyance; Low frequency noise; Vibration; Mechanical devices
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