Lightweight building materials like ferro-cement panels have been used building as low cost and cost effective construction in the developing countries. Sound transmission studies have been conducted on this panel system with different types of fibers. In this work sound reduction index studies have been conducted on Fiber impregnated ferro-cement panels with and without cavities for their transmission behavior. The panels have been erected as slabs and lifted and placed in the opening provided between source and receiver rooms. Sound transmission studies have been conducted on panels in the transmission loss suite which has been specially constructed for these set of measurements. It is shown that the presence of lightweight walls (Ferro-cement, cellulose acetate panels) have an influence on the loss factors of concrete floors, especially at low frequencies. Measurements and theoretical calculations also show that the loss factor depends on the design and construction of the walls. It is also shown that the loss factor increase is due to mainly to the energy transmission through the longitudinal waves. Copyright © 2010 IAHS.
