NEW DEGA-regulation 103-1 Sound protection in residential buildings

In September 2024, the final version of DEGA Regulation 103-1 “Sound protection in residential buildings—part 1: sound protection classes and higher sound protection” (DEGA-Richtlinie 103-1 “Schallschutz im Wohnungsbai—Teil 1: Schallschutzklassen und erhöhter Schallschutz”) has finally been published. This was a milestone after a lengthy discussion within the Building and Room Acoustics Technical Committee of DEGA and beyond. The concept of sound protection classes was firstly introduced in the DEGA recommendation 103 (“DEGA-Empfehlung 103”) of the year 2009. One revision keeping this idea was published in 2018. At an early stage in the present revison, the combination of guideline VDI 4100 with three sound protection levels (“Schallschutzstufen”) and DEGA 103 was extensivy discussion but finally abandoned. The following changes have been introduced in the new DEGA 103-1:—Introduction and implementation of a parallel (“two-track”) concept with “space-related” and “component-related” parameters for the classification of sound protection—introduction of optional requirements—extension and adaptation of the recommendations to the own living area from the DEGA-Memorandum BR 0104 from February 2011.