ISO 10848 (all parts) specifies measurement methods to characterize the flanking transmission of one or several building components. These measurements are performed in a laboratory test facility or in the field.

The performance of the building components is expressed either as an overall quantity for the combination of elements and junction (such as the normalized flanking level difference and/or normalized flanking impact sound pressure level) or as the vibration reduction index of a junction or the normalized direction-average vibration level difference of a junction.

Two approaches are used for structure-borne sound sources in buildings, a normalized flanking equipment sound pressure level and a transmission function that can be used to estimate sound pressure levels in a receiving room due to structure-borne excitation by service equipment in a source room. The former approach assumes that flanking transmission is limited to one junction (or no junction if the element supporting the equipment is the separating element), and the latter considers the combination of direct (if any) and all flanking transmission paths.

This document contains definitions, general requirements for test elements and test rooms, and measurement methods. Guidelines are given for the selection of the quantity to be measured, depending on the junction and the types of building elements involved. Other parts of ISO 10848 specify the application for different types of junction and building elements.

The quantities characterizing the flanking transmission can be used to compare different products, or to express a requirement, or as input data for prediction methods, such as ISO 12354‑1 and ISO 12354‑2.