Title image credit: Cover from the OECD School User Survey. The newly launched OECD School User Survey is designed to support the improvement of learning spaces by empowering school users. Significantly for us as acoustic enthusiasts, among the broad range of holistic topics and important aspects that it covers, the survey also includes 5 acoustic […]
Better speech communication and learning in the classroom
At this years Transitions18 Education research seminar in Copenhagen, Viveka Årlander Lyberg Associate Professor at Lund University, presented the latest developments around Suvi Karjulainen’s PhD “Better communication and learning in the classroom”. This unique and applied study around the quality of speech communication for teachers and students also links to the investigation of the classroom […]
School acoustic research overview says minimise sound levels whilst maximising speech intelligibility
Professor Emeritus Bridget Shield recently presented a comprehensive school acoustic research overview at the Transitions18 education research symposium in Copenhagen. Bridget’s overview highlighted that the importance of acoustics in schools has been know about for a long time although the research has only really accelerated over the last 50+ years. BS looked at the typical […]
Acoustics is part of the conversation – when transitioning to innovative learning environments
For the second year running the University of Melbourne and the ILETC project organised a series of three Transitions18 research symposia around learning spaces in Melbourne, Phoenix co hosted by Steelcase and Copenhagen co hosted by Ecophon. Attending the Copenhagen event, there was a wealth of groundbreaking research studies and discussions about the transition of […]
Do you know many open plan schools which really work acoustically? – School Case Study 3
Well, here’s a good example: An activity based acoustic design approach and living with an open plan school – School Case Study 3 This 3rd post in the series exploring – “How open should a learning space be?” Is a follow up to the 2nd post about the existing Dutch DeWerkplaats school building utilising sliding doors which […]
Are restaurants and bars too loud in New York City? Landmark case study….
An evidence-based study to raise noise pollution awareness was presented last month at INTER-NOISE 2018 in Chicago by Gregory Scott, Founder of SoundPrint. This is, according to the Abstract: The first large-scale study conducted on sound levels, using the novel SoundPrint smartphone app, of more than 2250 venues in New York City shows that the average […]
Artistic aspects of Architectural sound – Master Thesis by Tim Elfström
We asked Tim to give us a summary insight into his recent Thesis which he has completed as part of a collaborative Lund University study report with Ecophon. Tim is a qualified architect (Arkitekt MSA), has just recently completed his Master Thesis at Lund and is now a consultant helping other architects understand and include […]
Sliding doors combined with good acoustics enable more student-centric learning – School Case Study 2
Ecophon’s EDUnet Group has been looking into this case study for the past three years and has now gone a bit deeper and presented the findings at Euronoise 2018. To share more about why it works educationally and how the learning spaces perform acoustically as to inform the acoustic design of future innovative learning environments (ILEs). This school […]
Inhabiting informal learning spaces – Workplace Trends Learning Environments Conference London
Acoustic Bulletin goes beyond just the acoustic presentation to bring you the broader issues at the recent the Design and Management of Learning Environments in London on May 17th The programme and discussions during the day focused on the building design and spaces, how they are managed to optimize more effective learning and experience for students. The […]
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 […]
