There seems to be a universal agreement with the fact that proper acoustic treatment of a classroom will enhance comprehension abilities of its audience. This is more true with children as occupants compared with adults. To understand better, let’s first look at how our brain perceives sound. The adult brain takes all sounds we hear […]
Education
I can’t hear myself think – lessons learned!
During a recent weeklong visit to Melbourne, my main purpose was to attend the Innovative Learning Environments and Teacher Change (ILETC) research project partners meeting and attend the ILETC education research Transitions Symposium “Transitions Inhabiting Innovative Learning Environments Symposium”. However, it was also an excellent opportunity to discuss and raise awareness about the importance of […]
Blending academia and industry to benefit children with hearing loss
Acoustics is a broad subject and as a researcher, it can be easy to forget to occasionally lift the head, straighten the back, breathe and take in the surroundings. The EU-funded iCARE project (Improving Children’s Auditory Rehabilitation) aims to promote inter-disciplinary research to benefit hard of hearing children and has been running for three years now. In order to […]
Transitions Symposium – Inhabiting Innovative Learning Environments
The first of a series of three worldwide symposiums took place in Melbourne earlier this month. The Melbourne ILETC Transitions Symposium – “Inhabiting Innovative Learning Environments Symposium” was organised by Innovative Learning Environments and Teacher Change (ILETC) research project and occurred the day after the ILETC project Annual Partners meeting. I attended and gained a lot […]
Interview with Acoustic Bulletin editor – Jiri Strnad
It’s time to meet a new Acoustic Bulletin Editor, and this time we go to the Czech Republic and have a chat with Jiri Strnad. Jiri has an identical twin brother, talks a million miles an hour, knows a lot about school acoustics, and if you’re ever lucky enough to meet him under more informal […]
Visiting a sound place to learn
The bold new twin-site, City of Glasgow College super campus, imbued with Glasgow’s energy and complexity, is impressive. A host of design awards for Michael Laird and Reiach and Hall Architects, supported by Arup Acoustics, is a testament to this. The £228m twin-site super campus itself constitutes a city community, a so-called “sticky” campus, […]
How does the Child perceive the Sound Environment? | CHILD & NOISE – INTERDISCIPLINARY SYMPOSIUM
Event: CHILD & NOISE – INTERDISCIPLINARY SYMPOSIUM 17 March 2017 The Sound Environment Centre at Lund University in Sweden Last Friday, Frans Mossberg and Eja Pedersen of the Sound Environment Centre, organised and moderated a thought-provoking and powerful interdisciplinary symposium with a wide range of speakers from around northern Europe, focused on how a child […]
Open learning landscapes – if the acoustics aren’t right, the whole educational concept fails
De Werkplaats in Bilthoven is one of the Netherlands’ first primary schools without any classrooms, where pupils and teachers work in an open learning environment. “The success of such a concept largely depends on good acoustics,” says architect Kees Willems of Teeuwisse & Willems architects. In one corner we see a group of children watching […]
Acoustic improvements lower teacher heart rate, voice levels and improve the general experience
Better acoustics in the classroom reduce the teacher’s heart rate, according to research by students at a leading technological institute in the Czech Republic. Negative stress leads to bad decisions and poorer performance. When we are under stress, our heart rate increases, which is a good measure of how stressed we are. Jana Dolejší, a […]
Back to school to improve the lives of children with hearing impairment
As many students are enjoying their midterm break, it’s time to take a seat on the school bench for others. A group of European researchers, experts and industry partners is gathering to share insight on children’s auditory rehabilitation for three days as part of iCARE’s third winter school in Linköping, Sweden. The iCARE (improving Children’s Auditory […]
