Restructuring the ISO 140 series for the future: background and approach

ISO 140 is the basic series of standards in Building Acoustics and consists of several parts relating to laboratory and field measurements. The standards were originally prepared by ISO/TC43/SC2 WGs in the early sixties and since then updated and implemented as European standards through CEN/TC126. The ISO 140 series now consists of more than 10 parts, and new parts are under preparation. The ISO 140 laboratory standards cover a variety of building elements such as walls, windows, glazing, floors, floor coverings and air intakes. However, round robin tests have shown that the reproducibility is highly unsatisfactory for some product types due to insufficient or lacking instructions about mounting and boundary conditions, cf eg the European round robin on light-weight walls, which has led to preparation of Amendments to ISO 140-1 & 140-3. In order to improve the structure of the standards for easier updating, ISO/TC43/SC2 has decided to re-arrange the ISO 140 series. As a first step, the restructuring is restricted to the parts for laboratory measurements of the acoustic performance of products, i.e. ISO 140-1, -3, -6, -8, -10, -11, -16. The aim is to re-arrange the contents of these parts into a more logical structure in a new series, ISO 10140, without changing the contents for the time being. The existing product related instructions about mounting and boundary conditions are collected in one of the 6 parts in the new series. The new structure will also allow easier updating in other aspects, eg new measurement techniques. ISO/CDs were circulated for enquiry in Feb. 2005. The paper describes the shortcomings of the present ISO series, the advantages of the new structure, the approach to the restructuring process and the long-term implications and perspectives for laboratory as well as field standards.