Learning and teaching in the best environment
For us, the design of ideal room conditions for learning and teaching is a topic of critical importance for the future. The acoustic planning and equipping of schools, universities, kindergartens, seminar and convention centers is already an essential focus of our work.
Here are the basics we’d like to share with you.
Poor acoustics affect all of us
Classrooms with poor acoustic design often have high noise levels. The consequence: Pupils have difficulties with speech intelligibility. Students have to work harder and tire faster. Studies have shown a deterioration of memory performance of over 20%. And the teaching staff suffers, too. The acoustic situation causes stress for teachers, who then have to speak louder, which also causes health problems in turn.
Physical basics
In order to be able to understand speech well in everyday school life, the useful sound (speech) must be at least 10 db(A) above the background noise. Background noise comes both from the room itself and from the building or its surroundings. Thus, assuming that an adult's normal speech produces a sound level of 50-55 db(A), the noise level should not exceed a maximum of 35-40 db(A). In reality, however, this is usually around 50-55 db(A). The teacher is forced to speak louder in order to be understood by all the students. In addition, there is the problem that the sound level decreases over distance.
Sound reflection also plays a role. It is crucial for the acoustic quality of classrooms to prevent multiple reflections between wall surfaces and to minimize the reverberation time. If this does not happen, teachers may find themselves speaking louder. This in turn encourages the students to behave more noisily. Especially in one-on-one conversation situations and during group work, the sound pressure level can become unpleasantly high.
Constructional implementation
In many cases, a sound-absorbing ceiling is recommended as a structural measure in such a case. An optimal solution would also be a (at least partially) sound-insulated rear wall of the room. In addition, the acoustic concept can be extended by acoustically effective furniture fronts. Ceiling and wall coverings in the rear part of the room especially prevent sound reflection, which would otherwise reach the front rows of the room with too much delay.
The front wall of the room, on the other hand, should be sound-reflecting to support desired early reflections. The system solutions from akustikplus offer good opportunities here to provide a significant improvement in room acoustics both in the initial planning and in the retrofitting of rooms.
