Presentation
Can We Decrease Floor Impact Noise by Changing Walking Patterns? - a Preliminary Report
SessionvED1: Environmental Design
Event Type
Lecture
Virtual
Environmental Design
TimeMonday, October 25th11:33am - 11:49am EDT
LocationVirtual 2
DescriptionFloor impact noise from the footsteps of neighbors is one of the major social problems among apartment residents. In the laboratory, walking patterns and impact force on the floor were quantified from seventeen participants while they were walking normally and quietly to investigate how the voluntary quiet walking would be different from the normal walking. Eight out of the 17 participants walked with a rearfoot strike pattern, and the rest walked with a non-rearfoot foot strike pattern when asked to walk quietly. Both groups showed decreases in impact peak and vertical loading rate, but magnitude of the decrements was greater for the participants with the non-rearfoot strike pattern. The result of this ongoing study suggests that people may not walk quietly even they believe to do so, and it warrants further studies to investigate more effective and easy-to-conduct walking strategies to address the floor impact noise issue of apartment buildings.
Authors
Associate Professor