Structure borne sound and secondary airborne sound

In railway traffic vibrations occur which lead to perceptible (vibrations) and audible (secondary airborne sound) impairments of humans in surrounding buildings. It is imperative that relative strict limit values are kept, especially at night. Vibrations due to train-caused operation may lead to a lower sense of well-being. Mechanic vibrations are initially absorbed into the buildings as structure borne sound. As the construction elements vibrate, the air in the room resonates and leads to secondary airborne sound.

A complete analysis, that is measurement and prognosis in the field structure borne sound and secondary airborne sound, from one source is possible once the two sound structures are tested in conjugation with structure borne sound and secondary airborne sound. This is achieved with the combination of existing methods of measurement in dynamics with acoustic measurements of the secondary airborne sound. The examination of existing methods has shown that the appropriate selection of measuring points for a secondary phonometry is challenging. The elimination of directly radiated primary sound continues to pose problems. We recommend that a suitable data basis should be created with parallel measurements of vibrations and secondary sound at different positions within a building. In addition we should focus on the interrelation of vibrations and secondary sound in a typical measurement situation.