Advocating for a low-noise workplace, including the implementation of a Buy-Quiet Program, is an important first step toward the goal of routine selection of low-noise equipment. Before implementing the BuyQuietRoadmap, educate your stakeholders about the long-term benefits of a low-noise work environment using publicly available advocacy resources from other successful Buy-Quiet programs.
The BuyQuietRoadmap
A Web-based BuyQuietRoadmap provides requestors with a guided path through the procurement process and provides flexibility for customizing the resources for site-specific application. The BuyQuietRoadmap incorporates elements of several successful best-practices programs, based on a survey of industrial, government, and military organizations in the United States. A common factor in these programs, which has been adopted in the BuyQuietRoadmap, is a maximum equipment noise emission specification of 80 dBA. In addition to a stringent noise specification, the BuyQuietRoadmap incorporates field verification requirements as well as a means for estimating the cost of relevant noise exposure over a career, and it provides links to extensive online databases documenting typical noise emission for a wide variety of equipment types.
The BuyQuietRoadmap was developed for use by NASA field centers and facilities. It is intended to be generic and flexible enough to apply to a broad range of industries and equipment classes, but it must be customized to meet the site-specific needs of each audience. Non-NASA organizations are invited to adapt the BuyQuietRoadmap to their operations but are cautioned that no technical support is provided for the BuyQuietRoadmap or for any auxiliary resources associated with it. Follow this tutorial to learn how the BuyQuietRoadmap may be used to navigate the procurement process.
Technical content for the BuyQuietRoadmap was developed for NASA by David Nelson of Nelson Acoustics 
. Amy Gelfand of Gelfand Design 
provided content editing and Web site design.