Students make noise in a variety of ways. They tap their pencils, click their tongues, sing a song, or crack their knuckles. The noises can drive you and other students to distraction. Although you might be able to ignore some extraneous noises, others interfere with your lesson or with your students’ ability to concentrate.
Sound in a large room will echo, creating an acoustically challenging situation. That problem is amplified when the room has many people talking in it, but little or no acoustical treatment. Hard surfaces such as tile floors, solid block walls and drywall ceilings, whiteboards and windows typically reflect almost all of the sound that hits them. Classrooms are a typical area this type of sound issue surfaces.
As the reflected sound increases inside the room, the lecture being transmitted is lost in the ambient noise. Intelligibility decreases to the point where hearing becomes strained and learning difficult. In an attempt to overcome the noise, the teacher speaks louder, the students talk louder and the problem self-perpetuates. For students with hearing impediments or newly arrived immigrants, comprehension goes from difficult to impossible. The student becomes despondent. This adds a greater level of workload and stress for the teacher and ultimately impacts the effectiveness of the teaching.
Primacoustics will address the unique needs of each classroom, and customise the solution to fit. The simplest solution would be to fit acoustic panels such as Phonolook to the walls, or for a special personalised approach for each classroom, why not look at Bubblesorba and have your own design created in an acoustic panel.
In a new classroom, we would recommend using IN Panels on the ceiling to create a seamless finish in any colour of your choosing. First floor classrooms should also install Floorsorba underneath the lino to absorb footfall and reduce noise in the rooms below.
Contact us now to discover how Primacoustics can help in the design of your classrooms.
