Can You Hear Me Now? Acoustics and Attention in Schools

Let’s talk about Designing for Acoustics

A digitally rendered black and white outline of a conference room with multiple round tables and chairs, a projection screen, and a ceiling with a grid pattern.

Recognize different acoustic demands of diverse program elements in a school.

Interior of an empty lecture hall or auditorium with rows of seating, a window on the left, and a door with a red dot on the right.

Acoustic analysis is the process of evaluating sound characteristics within a space to optimize auditory performance, reduce noise, and enhance speech intelligibility.

Acoustic Fine Tuning of Classroom Designs for Enhanced Learning Experiences

A classroom with students working at desks and a windowed wall, with a diagram showing sound waves and acoustic panels installed in the ceiling.

We use acoustic simulations for designing classrooms to ensure that the spaces:

  • are not noisy (Reducing dB levels - to hearing range)

  • are not echoic (managing RT - Reverberation Time)

  • have the right speech clarity (achieving good STI - Speech Transmission Index).

A classroom with students seated on a blue carpet, some standing near an interactive whiteboard, with desks and chairs in the background. The lower image shows the acoustic design of the classroom with labeled acoustic blades and ceiling, along with sound measurement data.

How sound behaves in the space to ensure clear speech transmission, minimize echo and background noise, and create an optimal learning environment for students…

Interior of a modern auditorium or lecture hall with people seated and talking, with decibel and STI readings labeled near some individuals. A caption at the top says, 'Not only it looks good... it also sounds good.'

Not only it looks good... it also sounds good.

Indoor basketball court with multiple people, some practicing and others walking, high ceilings with large ventilation systems and bright windows along the side walls.

Acoustics in a basketball court affect noise levels and speech clarity, with hard surfaces causing echo; proper treatment reduces reverberation and improves communication.

A teacher reading a book to three girls sitting against a blue wall in a modern school hallway, with other children standing and talking in the background.

Acoustics in a hallway play a crucial role in controlling noise transmission, as hard surfaces and narrow dimensions often cause sound to reflect and amplify, leading to echo and increased background noise that can disrupt adjacent spaces.