Guest post by Deniss Mironovs, acoustic consultant at Akukon / Researcher at RTU / PhD Introduction Speech Intelligibility is one of the main attributes of a well-functioning classroom or auditorium. It is widely known, that learning outcomes depend on the acoustical conditions of the classrooms. Common practice is to use reverberation time RT as a […]
ENSA Architecture School in Lyon undergoes a co-design acoustic renovation with the architecture students
A sound environment co-design project renovation gives the students an applied and deep learning experience. The Architecture school was built in the 1980s, ENSA Lyon is architecturally distinctive but acoustically challenged. A prototype renovation was initiated in a 143 m² vaulted classroom to address excessive reverberation and poor speech intelligibility—critical issues in educational environments. Acoustic […]
How Sound Shapes Our Schools: Teachers’ Perceptions of School Soundscapes
Guest post by Hatice Kurukose Cal, Phd candidate, Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering, UCL, UK Teachers play a key role in shaping the soundscape of a school, but how do they perceive the acoustics around them, and how does it impact their work? Our research delves into UK teachers’ perceptions of school soundscapes, exploring how […]
Acoustics, Music and Architecture podcast
How sound and buildings interact! A new BBC Sounds “Start the Week” podcast with sound guru Prof. Trevor Cox, Fiona Smyth author and musician Jess Gillam combine to give a great overview of the history and development of architectural acoustics… Some fascinating acoustic discussions and insights: Echo vs reverberation, distinct echo vs reverberant bloom… Listen […]
New Aural Diversity toolkit helping designers create more inclusive spaces
Aural Diversity Toolkit Arup and the Aural Diversity Network have developed a toolkit to help designers create spaces and environments that meet the needs of everyone. This toolkit addresses the broader needs of those with aural sensitivities and provides a comprehensive set of recommendations, further research and other relevant aspects to consider to better inform […]
A Child Perspective on Noise Exposure and Health Effects – Challenges and Strategies
The filmed keynote presentation from Inter-noise2024 this summer is now available. Abstract (plus some relevant slides from the presentation): The presentation discusses the challenges of adopting a child perspective on noise exposure and the health effects due to noise. It takes as a point of departure a child perspective on vulneralility, including exposure, susceptibility to […]
Coffee chain premises noise data gathered by Soundprint
This interesting noise survey can help inform those looking for coffee chain premises which are most conducive for a good conversation. Crowdsourced data has been gathered by the pioneering Soundprint in the USA via their Soundprint App measuring the sound levels when customers visit with the App activated. Rolling data can inform consumer sound preferences […]
Sound in schools and its impact on learning and teachers’ wellbeing
New wellbeing report captures the results of a pan-European survey conducted by European Schoolnet under its Future Classroom Lab initiative. This Teacher wellbeing survey was available to educators in 13 languages between February 2023 and June 2023. It investigated the current state of school acoustics across Europe. The aim included understanding better what secondary school […]
The Influence of Acoustics on People featuring Neurodisorders
Dr Marco Caniato – Free University of Bozen in Italy presented this paper at EIAS2023. The influence of acoustics on people featuring neurodisorders. State-of-the-art and new perspectives As recently by the World Health Organisation, the percentage of people in the world suffering from neurodisorders, neurocognitive or neurodevelopmental disorder (as referred and described in the Diagnostic […]
Acoustic metrics for innovative learning environments
Acoustics included as part of a major education research project Amanda Robinson has been a key researcher gathering acoustic metrics for innovative learning environments and she presented the findings at EIAS2023 this year. Traditional acoustic parameters are often used to describe the environment within learning environments. These include metrics such as ambient sound levels, reverberation […]
