Conference Paper

Proceedings of Building Simulation 2021: 17th Conference of IBPSA

Influence of interventions against spread of COVID-19 on noise levels in student restaurant

Lukáš Zelem ¹, Vojtech Chmelík ², Monika Rychtáriková ^3
1 STU Bratislava, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Department of Architecture
² STU Bratislava, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Department of Architecture
³ KU Leuven, Faculty of Architecture,

DOI: https://doi.org/10.26868/25222708.2021.31085
Abstract: One of the main interventions against the spread of COVID-19 is so called social distancing, which has rather large consequence on activities held in the building interior. The direct impact can be seen in the limitations of the number of people present in an enclosed space at the same time in order to fulfil the necessary distance between persons. However, these rather unpleasant restrictions with dramatical impact on functioning of the so-called HORECA (hotel-restaurant-cafe) services, turned out to have also a positive impact on the indoor acoustic comfort. The main difference can be seen in the decreased noise levels in restaurants. This article compares acoustic performance of one space in two situations (before and during pandemic) and shows to what extent a simulation can be used for prediction of noise from quasi dynamic sound sources (i.e. talking people).
Keywords: COVID-19, noise, levels, restaurant
Pages: 2897 - 2902
Paper: