A Study on the Improving Speech Intelligibility of Emergency Broadcast Equipment in the Apartments

Due to the complicated plan structure of the apartment units and the improved room-to-room sound insulation performance, it is difficult to communicate and recognize the fire situation by emergency broadcast equipment. In this study, speech intelligibility was measured and analyzed for three types of apartment unit by emergency broadcast equipment on various measurement points. Simulations were also conducted to improve the speech intelligibility. As a result of field measurements 72, 84, and 101 Type were not satisfied with NFSC standard of 90 dBA at the point of 1 m distance from source. In addition, it was evaluated that 75 dBA and CIS 0.7 of NFPA standard was not satisfied at all measurement points except for the 72 Type at living room point with door opened condition. Based on the door opened condition of the bedroom, it satisfied the NFPA of 75 dBA and CIS 0.7 in each bedroom when more than 90 dBA was satisfied at the 1 m separation point provided in NFSC standard.