The classroom acoustics session at Euronoise consisted of 9 lectures on the 31st of May. Classroom acoustics was confirmed as a vivid area at the crossroad of room acoustics and occupational health. Highlights from the session – Stress indicators, such as heart activity are powerful to describe the incidence of poor room acoustics on teachers. […]
AP quotes Ecophon study on acoustics in healthcare
Roger Ulrich, an authority in healthcare design, was recently interviewed on the issue of hospital noise by the news agency AP. Ulrich is a professor of architecture at Texas A&M; University and visiting professor at University College in London. In that interview, he highlights the seriousness of this question by referring to a major study […]
Breakthroughs in standardisation in Nordic countries
Nordic requirements and recommendations for acoustic conditions in buildings is a review document (in Swedish) It provides a snapshot of the situation in the begenning of the 2000’es in the Nordic countries and reflects the large efforts put since then to create and improve standards for building performance. A large part of the documents quoted […]
Teaching styles put new requirements on classrooms
Classrooms should be designed for modern teaching styles. In a study supported by the Oticon foundation published 2002, a research team from New Zealand looks at the acoustic implications of new teaching styles, where interaction between children is encouraged besides more traditional teaching. More and more learning is done in small groups and a high […]
New French standard on office acoustics
NF S31- 080, Acoustics – Offices and associated areas – Acoustic performance levels and criteria by type of area, published January 2006, is the first French standard on office acoustics. It is designed as a reference document for clients to express their requirements, as well as a guide-line for office designers. Description Nine room types […]
Recommendations for school acoustics from the World Health Organization
World Health Organization – Guidelines for Community Noise is a systematic review of scientific evidence regarding noise, annoyance, speech and hearing impairment. The document provides also relevant guideline values. Extract 1 Interference with communication Speech (3.3) “Longer reverberation times, especially when combined with high background interfering noise, make speech perception more difficult. Even in a […]
Assessment of noise with respect to its effect on the intelligibility of speech
International Standard ISO/TR 3352:1974 “Acoustics – Assessment of noise with respect to its effect on the intelligibility of speech” provides methods for measurement and assessment of noise with respect to intelligibility. Example For a speech interference level of 35 dB, the maximum distance at which raised voice is considered to be satisfactorily intelligible is 15 […]
Reverberation time vs. amount of absorption in DIN 18041
German Standard DIN 18041 “Acoustical quality in small to medium-sized rooms” includes a table called “Guideline values for the free ceiling and wall surface areas to be covered with sound absorbers as a multiple of the room basic area (…)”. The table Download file presents for different room types the amount of sound absorbers to […]
Call centre room acoustics
Call centres are acoustically challenging environments. Australian/New Zealand Standard AS/NZS 2107:2000 “Recommended design sound levels and reverberation times for building interiors” addresses call centres. Recommended sound pressure level value in use (LAeq) Satisfactory = 40 dB(A), Maximum = 45 dB(A) Comments: my experience of call centres is that they belong to the category of spaces […]
