Having met Isabella Bower while she was a research associate with the research team LEaRN we have been following her own research about how buildings affect our emotion. So we asked her to share insights from her research examining how design characteristics of buildings modulate neural networks involved in emotion regulation. Isabella’s work explores what […]
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Snow – the sound of silence in the classroom…..
Västervångskolan, a school in southern Sweden, modified the acoustics and lighting in four classrooms on a trial basis in 2013. The experiment proved so successful that In 2015 the municipality decided that all schools in Landskrona would undergo similar acoustic and lighting upgrades. Class A sound absorbing suspended ceilings were installed, along with bass absorbents […]
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 […]
Better performance during the teacher training sessions – highlights need for good school acoustics!
Case study: How acoustics dramatically improved the teaching facilities at training centre for teachers CESIRE, Barcelona, Spain Above: dBplus Acoustics explaining acoustic improvements One good thing leading to another The idea behind the collaboration between CESIRE, dBplus Acoustics and Ecophon came about after Ecophon hosted a knowledge seminar in Barcelona which shared a local case study […]
Inclusive acoustic learning environment appreciated by the whole class!
Following a great response a few years ago after doing lectures about acoustics in learning environments at Comfort Audio’s four Academies in Denmark, Mai-Britt Beldam and Comfort Audio decided to do a project together – to find out what would happen if optimum room acoustics is combined with great hearing products for kids with hearing […]
‘Good’ and ‘bad’ healthcare acoustics
The sound environment impacts our well-being. In healthcare, patients and staff are seen to both feel and do better in an environment with ‘good’, sound-absorbing acoustics. As opposed to being in surroundings with sound-reflecting, or ‘bad’, acoustics. Healthcare acoustics Sound-reflecting vs. sound-absorbing acoustics Research comparing the impact of sound-reflecting and sound-absorbing acoustics on healthcare staff and […]
Celebrating the anniversary of EIAS2015!
A year has passed by since the Ecophon International Acousticians’ Seminar (EIAS) was held in Sweden last year. The conference offered a range of speakers from a multi-disciplinary background, who all had (at least) one big thing in common: an enthusiasm for improving architectural acoustics. “I had no expectations of what this would be like. I found […]
Healing environments – Care for Sound
Care for Sound symposium on healing, healthcare and it´s relation to sound! Healing environments can greatly impact a patient’s hospital stay Here are two examples from the UK Patient Opinion website: “There were no doors only curtains, the lady next to me coughed all night and the two patients next to her were snoring. The […]
Teachers overrepresented in the waiting rooms of voice clinics
Viveka Lyberg Åhlander a PhD in Medical Sciences/ Logopedics at EIAS2015 Vocal stress is an increasing issue in schools Viveka Lyberg Åhlander of Lund University is an expert in speech-language pathology and has worked a lot with people with voice problems. During her work, she noticed that quite a few of the people she helped were teachers. […]
Acoustic intervention at St. Marien-Krankenhaus Siegen Hospital
Acoustic intervention by Ingrid Fuchs (Concept Developer Healthcare Environments at Ecophon Germany) and Dr. Martin Schmelling (Specialist in Anesthetics, St.Marys Hospital) In July 2014 an optimization and acoustic intervention started in the pre-located areas of the OR (pre-op and post-op patient areas) at the St. Marien Hospital in Siegen, Germany. It has been a challenge […]
