Instructor: Paul Spite

Board: Massachusetts Architects

Credit Hours: 4.00

Approval Number: J607OCC08


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Course Description


Unwanted sound impacts and affects inhabitants of our created spaces. If it not already, controlling noise will quickly become a mandated concern for designers. Attesting to increasing regulatory focus on noise, is a recent proliferation of standards, guidelines, and codes regarding acoustics. Most concerns covered in these, can be addressed with a basic understanding on how sound travels and is reflected, blocked, absorbed, or transmitted by materials and assemblies chosen in designing envelopes.

Acoustic design is addressed here in an incremental fashion. Fundamentals include basic principles regarding sound, how its energy moves through matter, how its path and intensity can be altered, and how success in the manipulation of sound is measured. Known design strategies are discussed for controlling sound moving; from exterior to interior spaces, from interior spaces to adjacent spaces, within interior spaces, through structural components, and through building systems. Design considerations are outlined for numerous common building functions. Finally, acoustic codes and guidelines in existence now, are listed for consideration.



Course Objectives


Upon completion of this course, the participant will be able to:

  • define terminology and principles governing how sound is generated, moves through matter, is modified by material selection
  • discuss basic design practices for effectively controlling; sound transfer between exterior and interior spaces, noise transfer from interior space to adjacent spaces, and the reverberation of sound generated within spaces
  • recognize best practices for building types where poor acoustics directly impact productivity and health of users
  • analyze regulations and guidelines that either are, or may become, law underscoring a need for competency in acoustic design, before legislatures make designing for noise control mandatory.


Instructor Bio


Paul SpitePaul Spite, BS, BA
AFD Consulting, Founder and Principal

Paul is a Registered Architect with over forty years of experience, a course developer and has been a teacher in multiple venues in the past. He is also a writer in many venues, having developed many studies, a few published articles, numerous short stories, multiple screenplays, two non-fiction manuals for church design and one novel. More to the focus of this endeavor, Paul has also created presentations for twenty-six lunch and learn presentations for building material manufacturers, webinars covering the subjects of Aging-in-Place and Architectural Acoustics and eleven distance learning courses for architects, engineers and contractors. As he nears retirement from managing his small architectural practice, Paul hopes to focus even more of his energy on teaching and on course development.



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