Sound transmission loss of cross-laminated timber walls: Comparison between measurements carried out in transmission suites and point mobility measurements

The transition from concrete-based to wood-based construction is drawing more attention to the use of cross-laminated timber elements, especially in the building sector. In this context, there is a need to assess the transmission loss performances of such elements already during the research and development phase, when making several tests in sound transmission suites would be overly expensive and time-consuming. The flexural behavior of a composite structure can be determined by point mobility tests. From this kind of measurements, it is possible to estimate the loss factor of the partition and its bending stiffness which, in turn, can be used to determine its sound transmission loss once some basic physical properties are known. In this paper, the sound transmission of cross-laminated timber partitions is obtained with this method. Results are validated by means of measurements in sound transmission suites.