A guest post by Chiara Visentin, a researcher at the University of Ferrara, Italy Moving beyond noise control towards a child-centred approach to classroom soundscapes When we think about good classroom acoustics, we often think about reducing noise, controlling reverberation and making the teacher’s voice easier to understand. All these aspects are essential. But are they […]
schools
Education session overview Forum Acusticum 2026 Part 2
“Acoustics for learning environments across physical and virtual realities” Chaired by Jenina Fels & Arianna Astolfi After the opportunity to view the interesting poster session in Gratz the learning environments session continued… Arianna Astolfi – Reality versus Virtual Speech Intelligibility in a lecture room When field assessments are not feasible, virtual reality (VR) provides a […]
Education session overview Forum Acusticum 2026 Part 1
“Acoustics for learning environments across physical and virtual realities” Chaired by Jenina Fels & Arianna Astolfi Forum Acousticum 2026 held in Gratz, Austria, this September was a certified “Green Meeting” Session overview part 1 A great mix of topics from acoustic modelling, predicting how learning spaces might sound and be perceived, listening effort and comfort, […]
New research study to investigate noise exposure and stress in Finnish sports halls
The Liikkamelu project, begins now in spring 2026 and will produce for the first time research-based data on the noise exposure and stress of those working in sports halls. Study Aims This project will examine the noise exposure, stress and well-being of those working in sports halls, as well as the room acoustics of the […]
Quiet Enough to Think, Open Enough to Thrive
A qualitative study of sound environments in traditional and open classroom settings This Swedish qualitative study explores how students, teachers, and school staff at Gantofta School experience the sound environment in two contrasting learning settings: a traditional classroom (Learning space typology – Type A/B, Fig.1) and an open, flexible learning environment known as Amfi (Lst […]
The importance of C50 for speech communication and classroom group activities
This study investigates the acoustic conditions of 26 primary school classrooms during lessons. There was a specific focus on how classroom activity type, student age, and room acoustics shape both speech levels and activity noise. Using Gaussian Mixture Models, the researchers separated teacher and student speech from non-speech activity noise across 93 homogeneous activity periods. […]
Remodelling of open plan De Werkplaats primary school – acoustic design and operational challenges – School case study 4
Introduction De Werkplaats in Bilthoven, (NL) inspired by Kees Boeke’s educational philosophy, was designed as a progressive primary school with open learning environments. The aim: to stimulate collaboration, autonomy and inclusivity. In practice, however, the open spaces proved to pose considerable acoustic and organisational challenges. This led to a large-scale remodel, during which objective and […]
From RT to Clarity. A Simpler Way to Assess Classroom Speech Intelligibility
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 […]
Classroom Noise: How Activities Shape the Sound Environment
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 […]
The problems of open learning environments are not high sound levels but other disturbances caused by school activities
Study by Turku University of Applied Sciences Study overview A new study published in Building and Environment and recently presented at Forum Acousticum Euronoise 2025 in Malaga found that teaching staff were dissatisfied with open and flexible learning spaces, even though the sound levels during activities were slightly lower in open than in traditional enclosed […]
