8/11/2019 Acoustic Properties of Your Classroom

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Acoustic Properties of your Classroom:

Please use the following list of questions to audit the conditions for listening in yourclassrooms, then consult the strategies (below) to see what can be done.

Does your classroom have wooden/tiled floors?

Are there large areas of bare walls and/or large uncurtained windows?

Do voices in your room sound hollow and/or have an echo?

s your classroom segregated or are you in an o!en !lan setting?

Does your classroom have a high ceiling?

"everberation#

$hen you s!ea% in a room with lots of hard surfaces, such as#

& wooden/tiled floors& bare walls/windows& high ceilings

your voice becomes distorted. 'he sound of your voice is reflected off the hardsurfaces causing it to sound hollow and to echo. 'his echo effect is calledreverberation. 'his !roblem is easily corrected by introducing things into the roomwhich will absorb some of the sound, ma%ing it sound as it should.

ac%ground oise#

s your room affected by noise from other classrooms?

s your room affected by e*ternal noise, e.g. traffic, building sites, P+ or musiclessons?

s there anything in your classroom that ma%es a noise that could interfere with thechildrens ability to hear the lessons (e.g. heaters, air&conditioning units)?

8/11/2019 Acoustic Properties of Your Classroom

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Strategies for Reducing the Effects of Reverberation and Background Noise:

A fully car!eted floor. ('his also dam!ens noisy footste!s and scra!ing chairs.)-any classrooms with a small square of car!et, used at story time, are thought tobe car!eted.

0urtains at windows and soft notice boards/dis!lays. (0hec% fire regulations.)

deally, a lowered ceiling (e.g. insulated tiles) can be installed. 0reative use of otherreadily available material has been effective, but again you need to chec% with your1ealth and 2afety re!resentative.

-any class areas that have both low ceilings and soft furnishings also, unfortunately,tend to be in an o!en !lan setting. 'his leads to !roblems, as a voice can be lost insuch a big area. n a segregated classroom your voice is contained and is

consequently easier to hear. 3!en !lan areas are also susce!tible to bac%groundnoise. 'he noise from other classes or from activities in the same area can interferewith the concentration levels and listening abilities of the class.

t is not 4ust o!en !lan areas which are susce!tible to bac%ground noise. 'his canbe a !roblem in any classroom, the noise coming from many other sources.

2ome of the solutions may seem e*!ensive#

& re!lacing curtains between classrooms with solid doors& hanging heavy curtains/double gla5ing windows facing busy roads

& re!lacing noisy heaters/air&conditioning units

but the long term gains far outweigh the initial cost.

'eachers need to be aware of the effects of bac%ground noise, and schools need to!lan how they are going to wor% towards minimising it.

As well as the above, a 2ound 6ield 2ystem, costing around 7899, does much tocombat !roblems caused by both reverberation and bac%ground noise.

'he class teacher wears a micro!hone and transmitter, which enables the teachers

normal s!ea%ing voice to be distributed around the room through a system of small,unobtrusive s!ea%ers (usually four of them).

"esearch shows that this is not only an e*cellent way of ensuring better listeningconditions for the !u!ils, but also reduces stress and voice fatigue for the teacher.2chools with very !oor acoustic conditions might consider a !rogramme of equi!!ingat least one classroom on each floor with a 2ound 6ield 2ystem.

AcousticPro!erties:0lassroom