Acoustic performance standards - KBCN0922
For the Acoustic performance standards credits it is possible to use either:
- the building regulation requirements or other appropriate good practice local standards
or
- the good practice criteria outlined in the BREEAM manual.
If assessors want to use standards that have not been approved yet, they should submit these to BRE along with all relevant documents detailed in the standards approval process. The extent and scope of these local standards and the SQAs justification statement will be checked by BRE acoustic experts to ensure that the overall effect is similar to the stated BREEAM requirements.
Users with special hearing and communication needs - KBCN0969
Criterion 1c aims to ensure that the acoustician has considered designing the building to better meet the acoustic requirements for users with special hearing and communication needs.
The extent and scope this should cover will depend on the building type. The following information, taken from The UK Department for Education ‘Acoustic design of schools: performance standards building bulletin 93' (February 2015) provides clarity as to the type of users typically to be considered:
Users with special hearing or communication needs includes, but are not limited to, people with permanent hearing impairment or with severe or complex needs, including:
- speech, language and communication difficulties
- visual impairments
- fluctuating hearing impairments caused by conductive hearing loss
- attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
- an auditory processing disorder or difficulty
- being on the autistic spectrum
Such users should be considered by the suitably qualified acoustician, along with the other points a-d when giving early design advice regarding room layout, sound insulation and reverberation times etc.
01/03/2019: Amended to clarify that this is a 'typical' list of users, but does not impose a new requirement.
Information correct as of 28