Acoustic Considerations

With designing a Dementia semi-residential care center, acoustics are an essential design aspect to provide with considerations for. Through acoustic manipulation, the space can trigger certain vital emotions that tackle behavioral and psychological complications. The complications that Dementia diagnosed elderly face can affect wayfinding, disorientation, spatial legibility, and user’s personal orientation. As the environment has a significant impact on the elderly’s mood and emotional instabilities, the use of acoustic sound control can be used as a tool to trigger specific emotional, physical, and psychological responses through the control of levels of loudness and sharpness. 50 Acoustic levels can be controlled depending on the spatial zones and its function for the user. The space is divided into five zones: public, semi-public, private, recreation, and work zones.

Public Zone The public zone areas within the space are the exhibition, theater, and the courtyard. Since these spaces are mostly acoustically driven to enhance elderly well-being, acoustic control will be mainly controlled to avoid sound leakage out between these spaces and other spaces with the care center. The site provides these spaces with opportunities to function as public spaces, through the use of high ceiling heights (fig. 50,) but does not offer options to help with decreasing sound leakage.

To maximize sound efficiency within the theater, the use of acoustic panels, with sound absorptive qualities, the space maximizes acoustical awareness while still maintaining control over the sound distributed. 51 To minimize sound spreading within the exhibition, the use of semi-hard flooring materials will be implemented with an acoustic underlay (fig. 51) to reduce sound transmission of footfall noise, as that is the most noise produced. An acoustic ceiling (fig. 52) will also be implemented to eliminate unnecessary sound reflection. This reduces high stimulation of sounds but doesn’t reduce all sound produced to avoid under-stimulation where elderly could exhibit bored and problematic behavioral actions. 52

Figure 50- High ceiling height Figure 51- Acoustic underlay Figure 52- Acoustic ceiling

The courtyard, contrastingly, is intended to provide a higher level of controlled acoustic stimulation to connect the elderly with nature. Sounds of nature must extenuated to provide the elderly with an identifiable familiar sound stimulus. Placing sound reflecting surfaces such as paving and concrete (fig. 53) increase reflections within the exterior space which enhances sound quality, therefore helping the elderly understand the space surrounding them. Since the courtyard allows external stimuli influences such as, vehicle activities, tram sounds, and people activity, the space must accommodate to a certain acoustic control to decrease that. This can be achieved through using acoustic barriers and absorptive treatments within the courtyard. 52

Semi-Public Zone The semi-public spaces are the common seating area and the cafeteria. As they are both high activity spaces, the treatment for both spaces follows different methods of acoustic control but both avoiding high levels of acoustic travel to nearby in-resident bedrooms to accommodate to site constraints. The cafeteria minimizes sound by installing acoustic absorption (fig. 54) to parts of the ceiling and by using slip-resistant PVC floor instead of tiles. Sounds within the kitchen must still be heard to generate sensory prompts to establish a level of familiarity for the elderly.

The common area minimizes sound reverberation by using furniture and curtains to soften the space. The common area will contain a level of 50 STC, as well as discontinuous construction to avoid sound from traveling to the bedrooms in the private area. A sensory element, such as a music, will be used as a positive distraction to create a physical and emotional connectional within the space and the resident, as well as to reduce behavioral and psychological outbursts. 52 Private Zone The private spaces include the in-patient residential bedrooms, staff residential bedrooms, doctor consultation room, bathrooms, and prayer rooms. As the in-patient residential bedrooms are close to the common area and the cafeteria, a level of 50 STC acoustic performance as well as discontinuous construction will be implemented to avoid sound transmission from the semi-public areas to leak to the private areas.

Sound masking will be possible by adding a sound stimulator within the rooms, such as a radio or television, as a positive distraction as well as to increase comfort level by heightening the hearing sense for the elderly. Controlling reverberation is possible trough providing an acoustically absorbent ceiling along with soft furnishing.

Recreational Zone The recreational spaces include a massage therapy room, a recreation room, as well as an art therapy room. These rooms are within close parameters of the courtyard, a public space. To ensure sound control within these spaces, as they involve machinery that could produce noise, the installation of acoustic absorption to the walls as well as using acoustical ceiling panels. This is important because wandering has to be reduced in the courtyard towards the recreation spaces, as it is not intentional wandering. It also reduces abrupt noises that could disturb the elderly. 52

Conclusion Through the use of acoustic control within the different zones, the spaces control the noise impacts on the elderly. Within the use of these different methods of acoustic control, the space presents itself as acoustically compliant for the elderly with the aim to creating a semi-residential care center that evokes an engaging and calming feel.

Figure 53- Concrete and pavement Figure 54- Acoustic absorption panels