Zwicker’s Loudness model as a robust calculation method for assessment of adequacy of airborne sound insulation descriptors for partition walls in dwelling houses

The development and validation of single number quantities that are meant to serve for straightforward assessment and comparison of airborne sound insulation properties of partition walls are typically challenged by the necessity to perform large numbers of laboratory listening tests with human subjects. This is because a reliable validation of a single number quantity requires testing for many different wall types with multiple real-life stimuli that are representative for daily life soundscapes. In this article, an alternative approach is presented that allows to test a large number of “partition wall – real-life sound stimuli” combinations. This approach uses the well-established and nowadays generally accepted Zwicker’s Loudness for quantifying the subjective loudness of sound passing through a wall, and derive from that the subjectively perceived sound insulation. Using the proposed assessment method, the adequacy of single number quantities that are currently in use, and a number of newly proposed single number quantities, are compared.