The Air Conditioning Refrigeration Institute (ARI) has issued a white paper about noise criteria levels for engineers, who mostly rely on the criteria levels in manufacturers' catalogs to give them an estimate of noise levels in their proposed finish spaces as well as a comparison between manufacturers.
The paper, entitled, “Noise Criteria Levels - What They Mean and What They Do Not Mean,” discusses the ARI Standard 885-98 (with 2002 Addendum). It explains how to read the single-number noise criteria levels, how to relate ARI's standard to a specific job and how to compare manufacturers' sound power levels. Visit www.ari.org to read the white paper.