ᐅ Ventilation System with Heat Recovery – Where to Position the Air Intake Vents?

Hello everyone,
for our planned new build, we have decided on a mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery.

The ventilation inlets can be installed in the floor, side walls, or ceiling.
For aesthetic reasons, we would prefer to place the inlets in the ceiling.
However, our architect mentioned that noise transmission from other rooms tends to be higher with ceiling inlets. This means that sounds, for example from loud children playing in the kids’ room, could be transmitted to neighboring rooms.

Can anyone confirm this?

We have them in the ceiling. We have a wooden beam ceiling. You don’t hear the children “shouting” while playing, but you do hear footsteps and jumping from above. Whether this is due to the ventilation ducts or the wooden ceiling, I can’t say.

There are different versions:

One is a star-shaped distribution where everything is distributed from a single silencer. This is the version I have; there is no sound transmission through the ducts. I can hear children shouting through the door, but I don’t hear anything through the ventilation.

Then there is a series distribution, where all ducts are connected one after another with silencers between the rooms. These silencers are likely smaller and therefore less effective. However, I have no personal experience with this.