CAN-ASC-2.5: Acoustics in the Built Environment - Notice of intent

Standards development organization

Accessibility Standards Canada

Contact information

Email: 

Info.Accessibility.Standards-Normes.Accessibilite.Info@canada.gc.ca

Mailing address:

320, St-Joseph Boulevard
Suite 246
Gatineau, QC K1A 0H3

Telephone:

1-833-854-7628

Work program

The work program lists all of Accessibility Standards Canada’s in-progress and completed standards. It is available on our site.

Designation number

CAN-ASC-2.5 

Standard type

National Standard of Canada – Domestic 

Standard development activity

New standard

International Classification for Standards (ICS) codes

• 13.140 Noise with respect to human beings 
• 17.140 Acoustics and acoustic measurements 
• 91.040 Buildings 
• 91.060 Elements of buildings 
• 91.120 Protection of and in buildings 

SDO Comment Period Start Date: 

Tuesday, December 20, 2022

SDO Comment Period End Date:

Tuesday, January 17, 2023

The purpose of standard CAN-ASC-2.5 is to ensure the technical requirements for acoustics in the built environment are equity-based. This requires going beyond minimum technical specifications.

There are common areas where persons with disabilities may face barriers related to acoustics in the built environment. For example:

• Types of noise, such as stationary, non-stationary, and interfering speech. These have a varying impact on human listeners. 
• Key figures of merit. (A figure of merit is a number representing the characteristics of a device, material, or procedure.) The figures of merit for this standard include:
  • sound level
  • reverberation time (how long it takes a sound to decay)
  • absorption coefficients (the amount of sound energy absorbed by a material)
  • transmission coefficients (the amount of sound energy that passes through a material)
• General acoustic performance:
  •  noise level from internal sources, such as: 
    • equipment in the room
    • reverberation and echo
  • noise level from external sources, such as: 
    • impact noise
    • environmental noise
    • the building’s heating and cooling equipment
• Acoustics of specific spaces. This includes: 
  • Government of Canada workspaces 
  • open-plan offices 
  • closed offices and phone booths (including private and group spaces) 
  • conference and videoconferencing rooms
  • common areas, such as: 
    • kitchens and bathrooms
    • quiet rooms and recovery rooms
  • training and teaching spaces  
  • service counters 
• Assistive technologies. This includes: 
  • assistive listening systems 
  • captioning systems 
  • the interoperability of these technologies with personal devices

Project need

Accessibility Standards Canada was created under the Accessible Canada Act. Its mandate is to prevent, identify, and remove barriers to accessibility in Canada for people with disabilities. To do this, it develops standards. These are based on the needs of people with disabilities. These needs are identified by consulting Canadians with disabilities. This includes the members of the Accessibility Standards Canada Board of Directors. Most Board members are people with disabilities. The Board has approved the development of this standard.

Accessibility Standards Canada standards are developed following the principle of “nothing without us.” This means that people with disabilities are involved in the development process:

• Its standards are developed using research that is led by people with disabilities or with lived experience.
• People with disabilities are members of the organization’s technical committees. These committees produce equity-based requirements for standards. These take into account the needs and perspectives of people with disabilities. 
• The public review process for this standard will be accessible. This will allow even more people with disabilities to be part of the development process.

Date posted

Posted to the Standards Council of Canada Centralized Notification System on December 15, 2022.

Originally posted to the Accessibility Standards Canada website on February 9, 2023.