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

  • Round Rock ISD Completes New Early College High School

    Round Rock ISD near Austin, Texas, recently announced that construction is complete on a new, 46,500-square-foot campus for Early College High School, according to a news release. The new facility will allow the school’s students and staff to move from portables into a permanent building and increase its enrollment to 500.

  • Houston-Area High School Breaks Ground on 117,000SF Multi-Use Facility

    North Shore Senior High School, part of Galena Park ISD in Houston, Texas, recently broke ground on a new multi-use facility for student extracurriculars, according to a news release. The North Shore Multi-Use Facility will include dedicated practice and training space for the school’s athletics and fine arts programs.

  • Harvard Announces Replacement Facility for Native American Program

    Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., recently announced that construction will begin this spring on a new home for its Native American Program, according to university news. The 6,500-square-foot, all-electric building will stand three stories and serve as the central hub for the Harvard University Native American Program (HUNAP).

  • California K–12 District Finishes Renovations on Multi-Sport Stadium

    The Alameda Unified School District (AUSD) in Alameda, Calif., recently announced the completion of a renovation project on the Encinal Jr. & Sr. High School stadium, according to a news release. The district partnered with Quattrocchi Kwok Architects (QKA) and Bothman Construction on the facility, and funding came from Bond Measure B.