In September, it was a pleasure to present a work in progress “Optimising the acoustic design for a multi-purpose room used for speech communication activities” at ICA 2019 in Aachen. One of our inhouse head office rooms recently remodelled to accommodate a mixture of training functions. The sound environment for a room designed for speech […]
classroom acoustics
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 […]
Euronoise 2018 – Reduce Noise to Improve Life
This year Euronoise was held in lovely Crete (close to the Knossos Palace) from the 27th to 31st of May – and in the impressive surroundings more than 700 delegates from all over the world attended more than 50 structured sessions in total. Room acoustics were on the agenda every conference day and this article aims to […]
School acoustics in 5 European countries
How does the view of school acoustics vary between five European countries? Working across several countries, it’s interesting to reflect on the differences we see in terms of the role of acoustics. In some countries the sound environment barely gets a mention in a building process, in others only in certain types of specialist spaces […]
Conference on inclusion and hearing impaired children
So, the iCARE research project (improving Children’s Auditory Rehabilitation) is coming to an end, and I had the privilege to participate in one of the last major milestones, recently executed (November 20-21 in Leuven, Belgium) – namely the iCARE conference. Professor Dr Astrid van Wieringen has been project managing all of us during these years, […]
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 […]
Our top 5 posts on acoustics 2017
Wow, we sure get a good spread of topics on this little blog of ours and maybe, just maybe, this is what you like about it? When we summarise the major news and events in room acoustics 2017 we look back on everything from a nearly tropical ICBEN in Zurich, to interesting new podcast episodes […]
New report finds that children with reading difficulties need to screened for hearing problems
A recent report by Coventry University has been highlighted by the Nuffield Foundation and links reading difficulties with hearing impairments. The Nuffield article writes: “The researchers believe that if there was more awareness of youngsters’ hearing problems – as well as an understanding of what particular aspects of literacy they struggled with – then the […]
How open should a learning space be – acoustically? School Case Study 1
Noise is not something we only hear but something we feel, making teachers stressed and disturbing students. However, what feels like unwanted noise for some over distance, may be wanted sounds for another locally. This can create a conflict, so it is important to be able to separate these in order to create a sound […]
