Ecophon Acoustic Bulletin

Neil Logue and Emma Greenland

In November, groundbreaking new schools in Liverpool UK, hosted the BCSE World Learning Environments Conference which was organised by the British Council for School Environments. One of the breakout sessions was Acoustics, furniture and flexible spaces where Emma Greenland of WSP Group and Neil Logue, Managing Director of Kilworth Studio presented approaches and advice regarding how to ensure future flexible teaching and learning spaces can accomodate; immediate, short term and long term versatility.

Continue reading "World Learning Environments Conference - Acoustics, furniture and flexible spaces" »

Posted by Colin Campbell at 8:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Photograph:hear it.org

According to a recent study published by hear it.org, as many as 35 percent of school-children in Argentina suffer from hearing damage.

Continue reading "One in three school-children with hearing problems" »

Posted by Colin Campbell at 3:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A symposium on speech comfort, acoustics and learning was organised by Ljudmiljöcentrum (Listening Lund – The Sound Environment Centre at Lund University, Sweden) in cooperation with Saint-Gobain Ecophon and the Swedish Acoustical Society.

This was a very fruitful occasion, for people with various backgrounds and a keen interest in sound and acoustics, to exchange knowledge and experience.

Continue reading "JOINTLY ORGANISED SYMPOSIUM: SPEECH COMFORT, ACOUSTICS AND LEARNING" »

Posted by Carsten Svensson at 11:02 AM | Permalink

This BBC programme features interesting feedback from deaf students and their teachers, when their acoustic environment was improved beyond minimum acoustic compliance. It highlights where these benefits can help children particularly with special hearing requirements and how it motivated them to take action themselves.

The programme is available for a limited time on the BBC i-Player (if you are in the UK); or if you are outwith the UK for the 10 minute acoustic part watch it on Youtube

Continue reading "BBC See Hear Programme - Users views regarding acoustic improvements at Sweyne Park School in the UK" »

Posted by Colin Campbell at 4:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

...They must sound good too!

The National Deaf Children's Society NDCS has published a summary of the latest findings from the UK survey "Do schools sound good?" We posted information about the survey this in June, if you are interested in the latest summary please click here

Continue reading "Schools can't just look good..." »

Posted by Colin Campbell at 9:31 AM | Permalink

An impressive initiative by the National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS) and Grand Designs Kevin McCloud involving 50 MPs, is calling for government to ensure that new schools meet national standards for acoustics. The call comes after Freedom of Information Act data received by NDCS showed that only 21% of the local authorities in England that responded had new schools with acoustics meeting the requirements set out in Building Bulletin 93

Continue reading "Grand Designs on School Acoustics" »

Posted by Colin Campbell at 8:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

An Acoustics Advisory Group led by the BCSE met in Manchester earlier this year to discuss input for the BB93 Review. Those in attendance were members of the British Council for School Environments who have knowledge of acoustics in learning environments. The key points raised at this meeting will inform our future position on acoustics as an organisation.

Click on link for the 10 key issues which have been put forward to the review panel:

Continue reading "BCSE Acoustics Advisory Group - BB93 Review" »

Posted by Colin Campbell at 1:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Few local authorities in Sweden do something active as to reduce noise and high sound levels in schools. Only 12 % of the local authorities have an action plan, reveals an investigation done by “Lilla Aktuellt” (Swedish TV-program for young people).

Continue reading "Only 1 of 10 Swedish local authorities has an action plan towards noise in schools" »

Posted by Carsten Svensson at 2:16 PM | Permalink

This investigation show an increased occurrence of hearing impairment among school and preschool (kindergarten) staff. Since the noise exposure in schools is indeed high, it seems important to decease sound levels in Swedish schools.
(Summary in Swedish)
(another summary in Swedish)

Continue reading "Swedish study on hearing impairment and tinnitus among school staff" »

Posted by Carsten Svensson at 2:38 PM | Permalink

The Essex study ran for 5 months during the academic year 2007/8 during which period classrooms were repeatedly modified acoustically. Many objective and subjective measures were obtained and initial findings have been described as ‘very powerful’!

Continue reading "The Essex School Study - optimum classroom acoustics" »

Posted by Carsten Svensson at 4:25 PM | Permalink

Dutch sports teachers (PE teachers) sued their employers for suffering serious hearing impairment because of working in a poor acoustic environment. The schools that employed the PE teachers compensate the teachers financially.

The Dutch Royal Society of Physical Exercise Teachers (KVLO) http://www.kvlo.nl/ supports the teachers in this matter.

Continue reading "Poor room acoustics impairs sport teachers´ hearing" »

Posted by Carsten Svensson at 2:07 PM | Permalink

Interview (3,35 minutes)

By Marc Janssen / Concept Developer - Healthcare, Ecophon.

Posted by Marc Janssen at 3:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Noise levels at schools are too high. The children become tired, unfocused and stressed and don't hear well. The behaviour of the children also affects noise levels with their voices being raised to be heard over the others. Read more here about this study in Uppsala in Sweden.

Posted by Carsten Svensson at 9:08 AM | Permalink

Noise from screaming children in nursery schools is a significant problem for many nursery school teachers. Noise makes the people tired, lead to irritation etc. Read more about the danish situation here!

Posted by Carsten Svensson at 8:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In a Swedish TV program noisy school canteens were on the agenda. A resent study on noise levels in school canteens were referred to. It was mentioned that half of the pupils in the Swedish comprehensive schools feel bad due to school canteen noise levels. Children may get stomach pain; head ache or feel more stressed due to noise. The child reporter interviewed an adult regarding what you can do about it. The child concluded the interview with stating that also wall absorbers are needed! Here you can read more about it (in Swedish) and here is the checklist as a pdf.

Continue reading "Swedish Television publish checklist for quieter school canteens" »

Posted by Carsten Svensson at 4:01 PM | Permalink

Take the opportunity to stay in touch with the latest regarding school acoustics! The Speech and Hearing Group within the UK Institute of Acoustics (IOA) organise a meeting on speech and hearing in learning environments (29 January 2008) in London. If you want to know the programme and how to register, click here for the programme!

Posted by Carsten Svensson at 4:02 PM | Permalink

Markus Oberdörster and Gerhart Tiesler

The acoustic environment of classrooms has a significant impact on new modern teaching scenarios. Today, in many countries, education and teaching is becoming more student centred and differentiated. Classrooms that might have worked well for decades might have to be acoustically “updated”. Markus Oberdörster from Ecophon Germany, together with Gerhart Tiesler from ISF University of Bremen in Germany, spent years investigating the room acoustic conditions of a large amount of German classrooms. Markus talked about acoustics and teaching styles, but also questioned the relevance of Sabine’s formula in non-diffuse conditions and reverberation time as the only acoustic descriptor to use. Gerhart took this further by revealing data on how poor room acoustics has an impact on teacher’s workload, i.e. heart rate as stress indicator. The consequence of acoustically good classrooms is reducing the stressor “noise”, giving higher activation, reducing fatigue and potentially better learning results by the students.

Posted by Carsten Svensson at 9:08 AM | Permalink

The Speech and Hearing Group is a specialist group within the UK Institute of Acoustics (IOA) and they will organise a meeting on speech and hearing in learning environments (29 January 2008). Speech and hearing is crucial for learning in educational environments. Acoustics and noise have a direct effect on speech perception and vocal stress in the classroom etc. The meeting will be of interest to anyone concerned with providing optimal conditions for speech and hearing in schools and other learning establishments. For more details, read here!

Posted by Carsten Svensson at 11:16 AM | Permalink

Acoustical Society of America produced a position on the use of sound amplification in the classroom. They state that sound amplification should NOT be routinely employed in typical small mainstream classrooms. Additional comments are that sound amplification increases rather than reduces sound levels and good classroom acoustics can be achieved with good architectual design practice. Read more here!

Posted by Carsten Svensson at 2:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

A study on acoustic ergonomics of schools was recently published by the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Dortmund/Berlin/Dresden) in Germany. It covers room acoustics of schools, teaching styles, teachers’ health and pupil behaviour. Results show that room acoustic improvements leads to better working conditions, sound pressure levels decreases, pupils’ social behaviour becomes calmer, teachers experience a lower load and noise/sound level sensitivity.

The study was conducted by Dr. Markus Oberdörster and Dr. Gerhart Tiesler, under the umbrella of the Institute for interdisciplinary school research of the University of Bremen. Its original name is “Akustische Ergonomie der Schule” and an English translation (2006) is now available.

This study can be purchased at (www.baua.de) (direct link: http://www.baua.de/nn_8514/de/Publikationen/Forschungsberichte/2006/Fb1071e.html__nnn=true) or a condensed version can be downloaded as a pdf here (Download file">Modern School Acoustics - English)

For information contact: carsten.svensson@ecophon.se

Posted by Carsten Svensson at 3:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)

Thanks to an ambitious education initiative from the Swedish government, deaf children in Banja Luka, Bosnia, were provided with cochlea implants.

As soon as they have been able to hear, the very poor room acoustics of the school became an obstacle to the children's further learning.

Continue reading "When children start to hear, room acoustics becomes critical" »

Posted by Pierre Chigot at 1:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)

BB77 is meant to be guidance for school design edited by the British government. It addresses the inclusive aspects of school facilities, meaning their capacity to accommodate pupils with special needs.
The draft is a 293 page document, applying to all schools whether “special” or not.

Continue reading "Designing for Pupils with Special Educational Needs" »

Posted by Pierre Chigot at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)

Acoustical Society of America provides since some years useful literature for classroom acoustic design.

Particularly, the Classroom Acoustics booklet is meant as "an aid in the understanding of the elements of desirable listening conditions in classrooms" (whole content available below cover page picture)

Posted by Pierre Chigot at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)

Noise reduction in day-care centres by reducing reverberation time: Analyses and case studies is a study conducted on behalf of the Canadian IRSST. The aim of the study is to:
- examine the effects of acoustic materials and their impact on noise reduction and reverberation time.
- give concrete examples of noise reduction obtained through using acoustic treatments in day-care centres;
- develop a simple method in order to assess potential noise reductions by using acoustical treatments.

Continue reading "Noise reduction by reducing reverberation time in day-care centres" »

Posted by Pierre Chigot at 8:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)

How accurate are Speech Intelligibility measurements in practice?

Bristish Institute of Acoustics organises a thematic meeting on that matter 26th September. IOA writes: "Some measurements appear to be more robust than others. (...) Which metrics are most reliable?If you are involved with any form of speech intelligibility measurement or are interested in the audibility of speech in any sort of environment, then this meeting is a must."

Full programme details

Posted by Pierre Chigot at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)

Anders Kjellberg, Professor, University of Gävle, has been granted € 215 000 for a research project on room acoustics, cognitive load and learning in speech communication.
Besides Ecophon, the project involves several Swedish research institutions in environmental psychology, learning and room acoustics.

The main focus of the project is to see how and why long reverberation makes learning more difficult. The project will run 2006-2010.

Continue reading "Acoustics, cognitive load and learning in speech communication" »

Posted by Pierre Chigot at 12:40 PM | Permalink

Classroom Acoustics is a North American discussion forum for "anyone who is interested in public/private school listening and learning environments".

A recent discussion regards the acoustical contribution of drapes to classroom acoustics. Acoustician David Lubman, active member of forum writes recently that "Often children's listening needs are better served with good acoustical ceilings than with thick drapes."

Classroom Acoustics is a unique place where experts and end-users meet, exchange ideas, metods and solutions to improve the acoustics in educational premises.

Continue reading "Classroom Acoustics - a unique forum for experts and end-users" »

Posted by Pierre Chigot at 4:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (18)

"Don't limit your senses - sound and the learning environment" is now available in an upgraded German version, entitled "Mit allen Sinnen lernen : akustische Ergonomie in. Bildungsstätten".
ISBN 91-974193-4-6 and ISBN 978-91-974193-4-5

"Don't limit your senses" has been recognised over the years as one of the few comprehensive sources of information on acoustics in learning environments. Among others, it is referred to by several public authorities and government bodies throughout the world.

Continue reading "Comprehensive piece of literature on acoustics for educational premises now available in German" »

Posted by Pierre Chigot at 10:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)

The Euronoise room acoustics session included 7 lectures last wek in Tampere (Finland). Important developments are taking place in that field. Promising!

Continue reading "Room acoustics developments pointed out at Euronoise last week" »

Posted by Pierre Chigot at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)

"School acoustics after BB93 - practical problems and solutions" is a report compiled to assess the implementation of the British Building Bulletin 93 "Acoustic design of schools", also called BB93.

Continue reading "Going beyond the requirements of BB 93?" »

Posted by Pierre Chigot at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)

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 emphasis is put on incidental learning, defined as what children learn from each other through gathering information casually. This asks for classrooms that are at least as much designed to maintain low ambient speech levels as to transmit the teacher’s speech from the blackboard to the pupils’ positions.

Continue reading "Teaching styles put new requirements on classrooms" »

Posted by Pierre Chigot at 9:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)

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.

Continue reading "Assessment of noise with respect to its effect on the intelligibility of speech" »

Posted by Pierre Chigot at 9:54 AM | Permalink

New acoustics guidelines for multidisciplinary sports facilities have been published in the Netherlands. The guidelines support principals in making the right demands in coming building projects, demands which guarantee the quality of the sporting, working and learning environment.
Read more

Continue reading "Initiatives for sports people" »

Posted by Fredrik at 2:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Authors: Markus Oberdörster (Saint-Gobain Ecophon GmbH), Gerhart Tiesler (Institut für interdisziplinäre Schulforschung)
Source: Originally released for DAGA'05, München 2005

Read the article in English

Posted by at 11:00 PM | Permalink

Authors: Gerhart Tiesler (Institut für interdisziplinäre Schulforschung), Markus Oberdörster (Saint-Gobain Ecophon GmbH).
Source: Originally released for DAGA'05, München 2005

Read this article in English

Posted by at 10:56 PM | Permalink

Educational premises have more and more problems with the acoustical working environment. The present study analysed the problems in four elementary schools and one secondary school. In these schools several classrooms (N=30) were analysed for reverberation time and speech transmission index. Additionally the sound pressure level (SPL) was monitored for 565 lessons. In addition all activities, relevant for noise, were registered by two observers inside the classrooms. The project was funded by the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Germany (Dortmund/Berlin/Dresden). Bremen University conducted the study itself.

Read more

Posted by Fredrik at 11:20 AM | Permalink

Do you need brief information on activities that matters from a room acoustical point of view in a classroom, or perhaps in a play- and activity room in a pre-school? Do you need an update on what reverberation times standards suggest in rooms for education?
Have a look at the 15 most common room types in educational premises today.
Or read more about why it is so important with good acoustical conditions in educational facilities.
Contact

Posted by Fredrik at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)