The First Shanghai Noise Symposium

The Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP introduced the concept of "Acoustic Potentials of Urban Surfaces" at the First Shanghai Noise Symposium as a reaction to tremendously increasing noise levels in larger cities in China like Beijing or Shanghai. In this context, the control of ambient noise by reducing sound transmission (applying diffraction, refraction and absorption from sources to receivers using walls and surfaces of buildings) is of great importance. Implementing innovative concepts and technologies appropriately to make intelligent use of existing surfaces is still a great challenge, just like effectively integrating the sound masking effect for designing urban soundscapes.