Elevator noise in apartments can make annoying sounds depending on locations of elevators and the sensitivity of the residents. Some nations have their own criteria regarding noise from elevators, however, South Korea has no such criteria, which makes it difficult to handle the damage due to noise from elevators. Thus, the present study investigated noise criteria in elevators in other nations and identified the noise characteristics during elevator operation to provide foundational data at the time of setup on noise criteria forelevators. The noise criteria in other nations recommend the maximum noise level to be below NC-20–30 and 25–30 dB(A). The noise measurement in elevators showed that the maximum noise level at the adjacent room was NC-29, 31.4 dB(A) in A Apartment, and NC-26~29, 30.8–32.7 dB(A) in B Apartment.

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The bubble deck slab has been applied to various buildings due to many advantages including the slab load alleviation and structural stability. The bubble deck slab should not only ensure structural stability but also satisfy the performance standards of floor impact sound required legally to be applied to apartments. This study investigated the characteristics of reduction in vibration and floor impact sound in apartments where the bubble deck slab was applied. The measurement results of vibration characteristics showed that the bubble deck slab had a similar natural frequency with that of the solid slab from a frequency (each of 16.7 Hz and 11.1 Hz) where the first mode was formed but the vibration level of the bubble deck slab at the low frequency band (80 Hz or lower), which was affected by the heavy-weight impact sound, was relatively smaller than that of the solid slab. The bubble deck slab showed a comparable or better performance in the insulation of the floor impact sound compared to that of the solid slab.

Sound insulation between households is properly ensured to provide a quiet residential environment in apartments. The legal requirements for sound insulation in apartments in Korea are set to meet the wall’s minimum thickness or sound insulation performance. When construction companies choose the walls that satisfy thethickness in the standards of boundary walls between households, it is difficult to know the sound insulation performance. In this study, the sound insulation performance of reinforced concrete walls is predicted according to the wall thickness criteria and analyzed through field measurements. In newly built apartments, the reinforced concrete wall’s sound insulation performance(R'w) is 56 – 66 dB, which is a similar level of the international criterion. And the sound insulation performance of the reinforced concrete wall according to thickness standards is similar to sound insulation performance standardsof Korea.

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