HI all, is anyone familiar with an alternate option for complying with the sound isolation requirements? My project is so close to meeting this but it isn't feasible to provide additional layers of gypsum and sound-rated doors for small huddle rooms.

Our acoustical consultant offered an alternate: An alternative that may be pursued for compliance is post-construction acoustical testing and summarizing those results in a narrative. Since the goal of LEED is to promote acoustical comfort and speech privacy, it may be possible to validate the intent of the LEED standards through testing that documents the resulting level of speech privacy (in terms of STI, or other metric). In our experience, a wall assembly that may not meet STC 50 minimum “on paper” (in a lab test), may achieve a field-tested rating (its NIC4 rating), that is consistent with what an STC 50 partition would achieve. However, this may still require some upgrades to demising partitions and door assemblies. It is very unlikely that sliding doors could meet the requirements, for example.

Thanks