Find the measurement standards and ratings commonly encountered in building acoustics, environmental noise and specialized field verification. Standards define measurement procedures; rating standards convert measured data into indices. Always confirm the current edition and the project specification before testing.
Airborne Sound Isolation
ASTM E336 — field airborne sound attenuation between rooms; related field indices include ASTC, NIC (Noise Isolation Class) and NNIC (Normalized Noise Isolation Class), as applicable. ASTM E413 provides STC-related classification. ISO 16283-1 covers field airborne sound insulation measurements; ISO 717-1 provides relevant single-number ratings. ISO and ASTM indices are not automatically interchangeable.
Impact Sound Isolation
ASTM E1007 — field impact sound transmission using a standardized tapping machine; ASTM E989 — IIC and related impact classifications. AIIC describes apparent impact isolation of installed construction. ISO 16283-2 addresses field impact sound insulation and ISO 717-2 its single-number rating procedures.
Exterior Façades and Outdoor-to-Indoor Noise
ASTM E966 — field outdoor-to-indoor noise reduction and transmission loss measurements; ASTM E1332 — outdoor-indoor transmission class ratings. OITC, AOITC and OINIC are not interchangeable: OINIC is an outdoor-indoor noise isolation class derived from appropriate noise-reduction measurements. ISO 16283-3 addresses field façade sound insulation, with ISO 717-1 relevant to single-number ratings. See the OITC guide.
ISR and NISR Field Impact Ratings
ISR (Impact Sound Rating) describes isolation from tapping-machine impacts under the actual receiving-room conditions. NISR (Normalized Impact Sound Rating) adjusts the measured impact sound levels to a reference receiving-room reverberation time of 0.5 seconds. Both are derived from ASTM E1007 measurements and classified under ASTM E989. Unlike AIIC, they characterize room-to-room isolation rather than the apparent performance of the separating floor/ceiling assembly. NISR is not reportable for receiving rooms of 150 m³ or greater. See IIC, AIIC, ISR and NISR field testing.
Laboratory Sound Insulation
ASTM E90 — laboratory airborne transmission loss; ASTM E492 — laboratory impact sound transmission; ISO 10140 series — laboratory sound insulation measurements.
Reverberation and Room Acoustics
ASTM E2235 and ISO 3382 series address reverberation-related measurements in their respective scopes. The Sabine RT60 estimator is a preliminary model, not a field measurement.
Environmental and Equipment Noise
ISO 1996 series — environmental noise description, measurement and assessment; ISO 3744 and ISO 3746 — sound power determination by sound pressure methods; ISO 9614 series — sound power using sound intensity. Instrument requirements and jurisdiction-specific methods must also be considered.
Vibration, Speech Intelligibility and Shielding
ISO 2631 series — human exposure to vibration; ISO 4866 — vibration of fixed structures; IEC 60268-16 — speech transmission index measurement; IEEE 299 — electromagnetic shielding effectiveness. These are separate measurement disciplines with different applicability.
Reference overview only. This page does not reproduce the normative text of any standard, provide acceptance limits or assert cross-standard equivalence.
For independent field verification, see OSAT testing services or request a testing scope.
