A guest post by Chiara Visentin, a researcher at the University of Ferrara, Italy
Background
While noise sources like traffic or ventilation systems can contribute to classroom acoustics, in primary schools the dominant and most persistent sound is the students’ own activity and communication. Talking, moving, shifting chairs and desks all contribute to a highly dynamic sound environment that can either support or hinder learning.
A recent study in Italy
A recent study conducted by the University of Ferrara monitored 93 real lessons across 26 classrooms in five Italian schools. They focused on how different activities—quiet individual work, teacher-led lessons, and group work—affect both speech and activity noise. Using Gaussian Mixture Models as statistical technique, researchers were able to disentangle speech levels from student activity noise.
Study Findings
Findings showed that activity type strongly influences overall sound levels: teacher-led instruction and group work produced the highest levels, while quiet work was lowest. On average, activity noise generated by the students hovered around 50 dB(A), independently on the type of activity.
Figure 1: Speech and activity noise levels estimated using GMM analysis in teacher-led lessons, stratified by grade.
Conversely, speech levels, mainly related to the teacher’ voice, were consistently higher in interactive settings. Speech levels tended to decrease with student age, showing a nearly 5 dB drop from Grade II to Grade V.
Figure 2: Speech levels stratified by grade (all lesson types).
Interesting conclusions
The study also highlighted the role of room acoustics: classrooms with better speech clarity (C50) experienced lower noise from student activity. Moreover, the well-known Lombard effect was observed, with teachers and students raising their voices as noise increased—especially in younger grades.
Overall conclusion
Overall, the results stress the importance of acoustic ergonomics in classroom design and refurbishment. Managing early reflections and considering activity-based sound conditions can make communication clearer and reduce strain on both teachers and students, particularly in the early years of schooling.
Funding
The study described in the article is part of a larger project, funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) under the PRIN2022-PNRR project “LearN – Learning in Noise” in collaboration with the Department of Engineering of the University of Ferrara, Prof. Nicola Prodi, and Chiara Visentin.
This paper is available as part of the Forum Cousticum 2025 proceedings: Visentin, C., Prodi, N. (2025). Assessing sound levels of student activity in primary school classrooms. 11th Convention of the European Acoustic Association – Forum Acusticum, Malaga, Spain.
Special thanks to Chiara Visentin, a Fixed-Term Researcher (Type A, Italy) at the University of Ferrara, Italy, for writing the post and sharing her work.
Previous work presented at EIAS 2023 by Chiara is available below:
