Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Free Booklets Available On Classroom Acoustics

  • 06/01/18

According to classroom acoustics, a publication of the technical committee on architectural acoustics of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), speech intelligibility among listeners with normal hearing is about 75 percent or less in many of today’s classrooms. This means that listeners miss one out of four words read to them off a list. Adults and older children can use their experience to “fill in the gaps” and make sense of what’s being said. Younger children who are just exploring language, ESL students, the learning disabled, and the hard of hearing do not have that luxury.

That number of hard-of-hearing students is remarkably large and flexible. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that up to 15 percent of school-age children suffer from temporary hearing loss at any time. Allergies, ear infections, and colds or other forms of congestion mean that today’s competent hearer could be tomorrow’s hard-of-hearing student.

The good news is that making classrooms acoustically sound is neither difficult nor expensive. A bit of forethought, a small upgrade in materials, and acoustical enhancement is all it takes to make classrooms and other core learning spaces better. “The best way to solve acoustics problems is to prevent them beforehand, not correct them after the fact,” continues the publication. “Renovation of poorly designed classrooms is much more expensive.”

Thankfully, more and more states are implementing ANSI/ASA S12.60-2002, Acoustical Performance Criteria, Design Requirements and Guidelines for Schools. Consistent with long-standing recommendations for good practice in educational settings, the new standard sets maximum limits for background noise (35 decibels) and reverberation time (0.6 to 0.7 seconds) for unoccupied classrooms.

To help architects, planners create learning spaces that meet the guidelines, the ASA has published three booklets on Classroom Acoustics topics that can be downloaded for free on their website, www.acousticalsociety.org/classroom-acoustics.

This article originally appeared in the School Planning & Management June 2018 issue of Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Deferred Maintenance Issues Growing at Universities, Gordian Reports

    U.S. colleges and universities are falling increasingly behind on facilities maintenance and repair, according to Gordian’s 13th annual State of Facilities in Higher Education report. The deferred capital renewal burden has reached $156 per gross square foot, an 8% increase over the previous year.

  • Vanderbilt to Partner with ABM for Campus Preservation and Modernization

    Vanderbilt University recently announced that it has selected ABM Performance Solutions for a preservation and modernization project at its New York City campus, according to a news release. ABM will deliver its end-to-end ABM Performance Solutions (APS) model to manage critical operations during renovation and maintenance.

  • California School District Completes Elementary School Modernization

    The San Diego Unified School District in San Diego, Calif., recently held a ribbon-cutting for a whole-site modernization of Pacific Beach Elementary School, according to local news. The school first opened with one building in 1930 and added six more between 1938 and 1957.

  • Zurn Elkay Releases 2025 Sustainability Report

    Zurn Elkay Water Solutions recently announced the release of its annual sustainability report, according to a news release. The 2025 report discusses the organization’s efforts to maintain good environmental stewardship and the solutions provided in helping customers meet sustainability goals.