A noisy classroom can cause all kinds of problems. Students who cannot understand what their teacher is saying are easily distracted, and their behaviour and academic performance may quickly reflect this. Younger children are more susceptible to poor classroom sound quality as they take longer to follow instructions and are generally more easily distracted.
In some room layouts, children don’t have to make a lot of noise alone to trigger loudness levels. Hard, flat surfaces reflect sound waves, which means that the reverberation of the sound waves can quickly become excessive and the noise spirals.
Did you know that poor acoustics in classrooms are caused by employees taking extra time off due to stress and vocal strain? In classrooms with increased noise levels, speech intelligibility suffers and teachers have to turn up the volume.
Even in these cases, background noise may not be very noticeable, but reverberation and poor acoustics can affect speech intelligibility. There are many ways to achieve noise control through acoustic treatments such as: B. Records, sound insulation and ceiling baffles. These products absorb sound and prevent sound from traveling back into the room or through partitions into adjacent rooms.
Acoustically treated rooms provide a better classroom and school experience because they provide better sound quality, which leads to better concentration, performance and well-being for students and teachers. Our acoustic environment has a profound effect on the way we process and absorb information, and it affects our hearing and concentration.
Our acoustic environment has a profound effect on the way we process and absorb information, and it affects our hearing and concentration. People can only tolerate noise until it becomes very annoying and disrupts their cognitive learning process. Noise can be a major problem in open-plan classrooms, auditoriums, and libraries, as high levels of noise pollution come from multiple sources at the same time. The acoustic performance of a room directly affects concentration, information retention and overall comfort in the environment. Multiple studies have shown that poor acoustics in classrooms can negatively impact the teaching process. This is especially true at the lowest levels of education, where students are less able to deal with distractions in the learning environment.
In the UK, most schools and classrooms are built without considering how the design will affect acoustical characteristics and performance. One of the most common acoustic problems that greets us is excessive reverberation in schools and classrooms, and it occurs for a variety of reasons.
The acoustics of the early Victorian schools were unsuitable for modern teaching methods. High open ceilings, hard walls, floors and even tables can cause reverberation in a room. Open classrooms are also common in today’s schools, making it difficult to control background noise and distractions in the classroom.
These distractions can severely impair a student’s ability to learn and process information, negatively impacting their success. In the room acoustics industry, there are surprisingly few guidelines for noise levels in different room environments.
Since 2003 there has been a national standard for school acoustics known as the BB93 Guidelines. These guidelines set requirements for decibel levels and reverberation times for different classrooms. BB93 must be followed when designing new classrooms or renovation projects. We strive to meet or in most cases exceed these requirements when performing acoustic installations.
At PanelHush, we are primarily focused on reducing RT or “Reverberation Time” in a variety of spaces including offices, conference rooms, restaurants, schools and auditoriums. RT is defined as the time (in seconds) required for the sound pressure to drop below 60 dB after the sound source ceases to emit sound. With nothing to absorb the ambient reverb, all sound bounces off hard surfaces for a while before eventually dissipating.
Our treatments can also reduce decibel levels within a room, but often require extra attention to eliminate sound transmission outside the room. These problems often require soundproofing. With high reverberation times, teachers will naturally feel the need to raise their voices in order for students to hear them.
Problems with the clarity or tension of the teacher’s voice can lead to further problems conveying information to students when the teacher demands higher output. Children are more sensitive to noise and reverberation during tasks involving listening, as well as during tasks such as reading and writing.
Children, in particular, have poor listening skills due to lack of neurodevelopment, which can lead to problems with academic performance and even poor behaviour. Children are inherently more distracted by noise than adults, so proper room treatment is essential for an optimal learning environment.
According to the needs of the space, we design a customized acoustic treatment solution to solve the reverberation problem in the space. With so many products to choose from today, we can supply and install systems to match preferred decor or make acoustic products virtually invisible to the naked eye.
For all projects we specify the use of acoustic panels on the walls, the use of acoustic ceiling baffles or sails, or a combination of the two as required. We install acoustic wall panels on the walls every day, which greatly improves the sound insulation performance and comfort of the room.