Vibro-Acoustic Consultants (VACC) Inc services

We provide general design and measurement services in interior architectural acoustics and noise control design for noise isolation, sound transmission class (STC), impact isolation class (IIC), reverberation time / speech intelligibility, and more. We support regulatory compliance activities such as CNEL / Title 24 testing and design review for building permits.  These services begin from initial concept design, ambient measurements, design development, construction-phase support, all the way to final performance testing and commissioning.

We provide the same design and measurement services for structural vibration control. Our engineers hold degrees in Civil, Structural, and Materials Engineering, giving us a unique advantage in the design and construction of robust, cost-effective solutions. Our involvement spans site evaluation with respect to soil condition and environmental vibration sources, design of structures for which vibration demands control, MEP layout and isolation of rotating mechanical systems, construction-phase support, all the way to final performance testing and commissioning. Our specialty is comprehensive vibration design in demanding settings, such as in Advanced Technology Facilities.

In addition to structural and architectural design input, we provide expertise and services in vibration and noise design of products.  Products which are sensitive -- such as scanning electron microscopes -- as well as those that are generators -- such as motors and pumps -- require careful vibration and noise design considerations during their development process.  We employ both analytical and experimental techniques to assess the structural dynamics behind the vibration and noise design needs of components and systems under development. 

We are a full-service vibration and noise consultancy. Due to the demanding nature of our design work, we maintain world-class test and measurement capabilities. We not only design systems and structures; we test them and monitor their performance, as well.

Micro-vibration monitoring is sometimes needed to protect a sensitive facility -- for example, a sensitive laboratory -- from construction vibration.  Because fast-track construction schedules and ongoing protection of high-yield production are often in conflict, monitoring is essential in maintaining the goals of both.  In addition, compact sites and large infrastructure projects put homeowners and commercial neigbors at risk of vibration-induced structural damage due to construction activities like soil compaction, pile driving, and blasting. Vibration monitoring provides both real-time protection against high vibration levels as well as historical data to help assess whether damage was due to adjacent jobsites.

Underwater construction activities (especially underwater piling) put marine species at risk. Hydroacoustic (underwater sound) monitoring is used to meet standards imposed on projects by NOAA and other agencies. All of our monitoring options are available for underwater as well as above-water projects. Our single-instrument platform means that we can integrate underwater noise measurement and underwater sound monitirong tasks with traditional airborne noise and groundborne vibration monitoring required by many projects.

Noise monitoring is used to record noise levels at property lines as part of determining compliance with local ordinances under operation or during construction.  We also use noise monitoring data as part of full 3-D computer-based environmental noise evaluation of facilities and construction sites.