This paper provides further information and expansion on a Poster Presentation prepared for the Institute of Acoustics 40th Anniversary Conference in October 2014. Although the poster presentations are necessarily brief and concise, the following is intended to add some detail for those with an interest in the topic. It is common on modern education schemes that the soffits of teaching spaces are left exposed to make use of the temperature regulatory effect of the bare concrete (so called thermal mass). Whilst this is an accepted part of the cooling strategy for the building, it creates conflict with the required detailing of lightweight partition heads. Plasterboard partitions are required to move with the natural deflection of a building in order to prevent damage and cracking, and so are typically detailed with a 15-50mm gap in the boarding where the head meets the underside of the soffit or slab above. The gap at the head of the partition represents an inevitable weakness in terms of airborne flanking sound. On traditional schemes where a ceiling is provided, the gap is above the ceiling line, and therefore is somewhat protected from this phenomenon. However, on schemes with exposed soffits, RPS research indicates that (without proper treatment) this exposed deflection head detail can be detrimental to in-situ airborne sound insulation, potentially resulting in failed pre-completion tests. This paper will outline the magnitude of the problem, investigate the possible mechanisms of the issue and provide several bespoke solutions to what is becoming an increasingly common problem in the field of building acoustics on education schemes.
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