New Royal Adelaide Hospital Aims to Be Australia’s Quietest

[caption id="attachment_5001" align="alignright" width="200"] Testing Engineer David Truett in CSIRO's acoustic laboratory.[/caption]
A team of CSIRO scientists has carried out sophisticated acoustic studies, in a quest to help create Australia’s quietest hospital.The new Royal Adelaide Hospital, due to be completed in 2016, will have 800 beds and world class facilities including a helipad sitting atop its south west corner. While the helipad will assist in patient transportation, it does present a problem. From 20 metres away, helicopters create over 100 decibels of noise (equivalent to being in the front row at a rock concert) which is not very conducive to patient rest.
The team from CSIRO's acoustics lab in Melbourne has been working alongside window supplier Yuanda Australia's engineers, measuring the performance of the windows to ensure that the South Australian Government's stringent sound-proofing requirements are met.
To undertake the measurements, the team custom-built a brick wall between two cavernous sound chambers to hold sample windows. A standardised sound source generated noise in one chamber, while sound intensity and pressure levels were measured on the other side of the glass. According to CSIRO project leader Dr Christopher Preston, this allowed the CSIRO team to assess how well the glazing would perform when exposed to the noise of a helicopter.
"To ensure that all areas of the hospital meet the sound insulation requirements, a range of different window configurations had to be evaluated," Dr Preston said. "This meant the brick wall had to be knocked down and rebuilt about a dozen times in order to hold different facade elements."
CSIRO's acoustic laboratory is one of the few facilities in Australia equipped to perform the low frequency measurements required for this type of assessment.
According to Yuanda engineer Gareth Winstanley, with the testing phase now complete, the glazing is ready for production. "When it is finished the new Royal Adelaide Hospital will be the quietest hospital in the country," Mr Winstanley said