ECORE Commercial Flooring Develops Resilient Floor Finish That is As Quiet as Carpet

ECORE International, a company that transforms reclaimed waste into unique performance surfacing, is pleased to announce the results of a series of recent acoustic tests, performed by The Acoustics Laboratory at the University of Hartford. This study confirmed ECORE Commercial Flooring's Forest rx resilient floor finish is as quiet as carpet. Forest rx features a vinyl wear layer bonded to a 97 percent recycled rubber backing, using ECORE's patent-pending itstru technology.

Two senior acoustical engineering students, Adam Paul and David Arena, took part in a semester long research study that focused on hospital noise. Paul and Arena performed an absorption test, a tapping machine test, and a rolling cart test to quantify the influence different flooring materials have on hospital corridor noise. Paul and Arena recognized that addressing these noise sources can positively affect the acoustic environment in patient rooms.

Paul and Arena's research concluded that "the addition of the rubber backing resulted in an overall sound power level reduction of 16 dBA during the tap test and an overall reduction of 5 dBA during the rolling cart test… [and] nearly identical sound power spectra as the Pinnacle Carpet during the rolling cart test." A-weighted decibels, abbreviated dBA, are an expression of the relative loudness of sounds in air as perceived by the human ear. Forest rx flooring improved sound levels significantly, approaching those levels generated by carpet.

"It is widely accepted that the only 'quiet' floor finish is carpet; so, unless hygiene is a non-factor, we've all but abandoned hope of having an acoustically beneficial resilient floor finish," said Sharon Paley, Acoustic Engineer with ECORE International. "While anyone has yet to create a resilient floor finish that is as absorptive as carpet, ECORE has successfully created a resilient floor finish that is as quiet as carpet."

In recognition of their research, Paul and Arena were presented with the Institute of Noise Control Engineering's 2014 Leo Beranek Student Medal for Excellence in the Study of Noise Control. This award was established by the Institute of Noise Control Engineering (INCE)/U.S.A. and the INCE Foundation in 2010 to recognize excellence in the study of noise-control by undergraduate and graduate students at academic institutions in North America. Paul and Arena will present these findings at the 168th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in Indianapolis, Ind., in October, 2014.

To learn more visit: https://ecorecdn.ecoreintl.com/marketing/forestrx/whitepapers/ForestRxWhitePaper.pdf