According to National Multifamily Housing Council (www.nmhc.org), noise has been identified as a major issue by residents of multifamily residential buildings. In addition, according to Alexandria, VA Office of Housing, noise transmission is one of the biggest issues for renters in
multifamily buildings. The problem is worst in buildings constructed of wood above concrete podiums, and better in steel and concrete high rises. Further, thousands of resident reviews are available on the internet citing poor sound insulation of multifamily residential buildings including those recently constructed so it appears that the existing building codes/construction techniques do not result in the adequate level of the sound insulation in multifamily buildings; finally, when the residents move into brand new multifamily residential buildings there is no way for the residents to know what the building sound insulation will be.