Services · Architectural & Community
Sound isolation, room acoustics, and community-noise engineering for buildings and developments — so occupants hear what they should, and nothing they shouldn't. We work the acoustics from schematic design through commissioning, alongside your architects, developers, and MEP team.
Good acoustics is not something you add at the end — it is a set of decisions made in the drawings. CSTI Acoustics brings sound quality and noise control into a project while they are still cheap to influence: wall and floor assemblies, mechanical layouts, room geometry, and site planning. The goal is buildings that meet code and rating targets on the first test, not after a round of tenant complaints.
We engage at whatever stage you are in. In early design we set measurable acoustic goals and translate them into partition ratings, ceiling and flooring specifications, and mechanical criteria. During construction we review submittals and shop drawings so the built assembly actually achieves its design intent. At turnover we field-test the finished spaces — sound transmission, reverberation, and mechanical background levels — and document the results against the targets everyone agreed to.
Acoustics touches nearly every discipline, so we work as a member of the team rather than a bolt-on. With architects we tune room shape, volume, and finishes. With developers we set tenant- and code-driven isolation targets that protect leasability. With MEP engineers we control HVAC noise and vibration at the source before it becomes a duct-liner afterthought. The result is one coordinated acoustic strategy instead of competing assumptions.
Not every call comes at design time. When a finished building has a speech-privacy problem, a noisy rooftop unit, or a neighbor filing under a local ordinance, we measure what is actually happening, identify the dominant path, and recommend the most cost-effective fix — grounded in the same standards a reviewer or court would apply.
Capabilities
Six practice areas, each tied to a measurable target and a published test method — so the design intent is something you can verify, not just hope for.
Wall, floor-ceiling, and door assemblies engineered to STC / IIC targets, then verified in the field to ASTM E90 and ASTM E336. We close the gap between the assembly on paper and the assembly you can actually hear through.
Reverberation time (RT60), speech clarity, and finish selection for classrooms, offices, worship, and performance spaces — measured and modeled to ISO 3382 so a room sounds the way it is meant to be used.
Background-noise criteria (NC / RC), duct and equipment noise, and vibration isolation for rooftop units, chillers, and pumps — controlled at the source so mechanical systems stay in the background where they belong.
Open-plan offices, medical suites, and legal or financial spaces where confidentiality is a requirement. We specify and tune masking and layout so conversations stay where they start.
Documentation and testing for the acoustic credits in LEED and the WELL Building Standard — background noise, reverberation, sound isolation, and speech privacy — handled so certification does not stall at the finish line.
Land-use and ordinance-compliance studies for new developments and mixed-use sites — baseline surveys, source modeling, and property-line predictions that answer the noise question before entitlement or permitting does.
Standards & rating methods
Every isolation target and reverberation goal ties back to a published standard — so the results are defensible to code officials, tenants, and certifying bodies alike.
Bring us in early — it's cheaper than fixing it after occupancy.