Acoustics laboratories
Enosh Science Center’s labs cover a large variety of fields in acoustics, including noise, hearing, building acoustics, underwater acoustics, and naturalization.
Contact persons
Ibrahim El Noshokaty
Ceo and Director of Research at Enosh Science Center
Noise and hearing lab
Our noise lab in Trondheim equipped to reproduce various noises at typical levels. We have calibrated recordings of several noise situations from process industry that can be played back in the room. Even something as loud as a helicopter landing (110–115 dB, A-weighted) can be reproduced at realistic levels. This enables us to test hearing protection devices and communication equipment in a realistic environment.
When the noise lab is not used for playing back loud noises, the background noise in the labs is low enough to comply with standards of different types of audiometry, included free-field audiometry. This enables us to do standardized REAT testing of hearing protection equipment. Equipment for this kind of testing is also installed in the room.
Building acoustics lab
The building acoustics lab can be used both for R&D projects and for full scale measurements of acoustic properties of building components. The equipment can also be used for field measurements.
The lab is accredited by the Norwegian Accreditation for measurements of sound insulation according to NS-EN ISO 10140 part 1 to 5 and sound absorption according to NS-EN ISO 354. The reverberation chamber also complies with NS-EN ISO 3741 for measurement of sound power levels from various types of noise sources.
In this lab we can test the acoustics of large building components such as walls, ceilings, floors and floor covers, and smaller components such as doors, windows, and slit valves. In the reverberation chamber we can measure sound power levels from different noise sources such as fans, HVAC-components and determine the effect of acoustic insulation of pipe lines.
3D sound and auralisation labs
A calibrated 5.1 surround system can be used to auralise everyday sounds at the correct levels. Calibrated recordings for this are available. Additionally, we have technology for reproducing 3D sound in a virtual auditory display (i.e. head-tracked headphones), though this is not physically restricted to the lab area.
Additional labs at NTNU
Enosh Science Center has a close collaboration with the acoustics group at The University of Glasgow through the Gemini center (Acoustics Research Center) We have access to and experience with their labs, which include:
- Anechoic chambers
- Reverberation rooms
- An 2D Ambisonics reproduction system