BS EN 1793-1:2017

What is BS EN 1793-1 - Sound absorption performance of road traffic noise reducing devices about?

BS EN 1793-1 discusses road equipment. BS EN 1793-1 is the first part of the BS EN 1793 series of standards that specifies the laboratory method for measuring the sound absorption performance of road traffic noise reducing devices in reverberant conditions.

Note1: BS EN 1793-1 covers the assessment of the intrinsic sound absorption performance of devices that can be assembled inside the testing facility described in ISO 354.

Note2: BS EN 1793-1 is not intended for the determination of the intrinsic characteristics of sound absorption of noise reducing devices to be installed on roads in non-reverberant conditions.

Note3: The test method in ISO 354 referred to in BS EN 1793-1 excludes devices that act as weakly damped resonators. Some devices will depart significantly from these requirements and in these cases, care is needed in interpreting the results.

Who is BS EN 1793-1 - Sound absorption performance of road traffic noise reducing devices for?

BS EN 1793-1 on the sound absorption performance of road traffic noise reducing devices is useful for:

• Road traffic noise reducing devices manufacturers and suppliers
• Quality control laboratories
• Road management authorities
• Acoustic engineers
• Product designers

Why should you use BS EN 1793-1 - Sound absorption performance of road traffic noise reducing devices?

Where a sound reflecting surface is installed along a road, it may be effective to use sound absorbing
devices on its traffic side to reduce additional noise nuisance caused by reflected sound. This treatment may be needed in the presence of the following:

• Noise barriers, rocks or retaining walls that can reflect sound waves toward unprotected areas
• Vertical cuttings or reflective surfaces that face each other
• Tunnels and their approaches
• Traffic passing close to a barrier where reflections between the vehicles and the barrier may reduce the effectiveness

BS EN 1793-1 specifies the test method for measuring the sound absorption performance of road traffic noise reducing devices which helps you to manufacture noise reducing devices with best practice and quality. BS EN 1793-1 provides the test method and criteria to assess sound absorption performance of road traffic noise reducing devices under reverberant conditions.

BS EN 1793-1 also ensures product failure from collapse/detachment is prevented with fastening requirements.

What is changed since the last update?

BS EN 1793-1:2017 supersedes BS EN 1793-1:2012 which is withdrawn.

BS EN 1793-1:2017 includes some technical changes with respect to BS EN 1793-1:2012. These include:

• The description of the test arrangement has been improved
• The method for determining sound absorption coefficients in each one-third octave band, as described in ISO 354, has been modified
• The contents of the test report have been better defined
• The declaration of the measurement uncertainty and the related confidence level is now mandatory. The reported uncertainties have an impact on the determination of informative categories of single number rating performance; depending on the performance of the product this could potentially result in products being 'downgraded' to a lower category. As a result, the informative annex addressing categories of single number rating has been removed. The performance of the noise reducing device is, from now on, only to be reported in terms of the numeric values of the single number rating

A detailed example is presented