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Volume 11, Issue 2: Spring 2003

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Resources on Classroom Acoustics

American National Standard Acoustical Performance Criteria, Design Requirements, and Guidelines for Schools.

Acoustical Society of America, Melville, New York, 2002

This standards publication provides acoustical performance criteria, design requirements, and design guidelines for new school classrooms and other learning spaces. The standards may be applied when practicable to the major renovation of existing classrooms. These criteria, requirements, and guidelines are keyed to the acoustical qualities needed to achieve a high degree of speech intelligibility in learning spaces. Design guidelines in the appendices are intended to aid in conforming to the performance and design requirements, but do not guarantee conformance. Test procedures are provided when conformance to this standard is to be verified. 50p. Report No: ANSI S12.60-2002

TO ORDER: Standards Secretariat, Acoustical Society of America, 35 Pinelawn Road, Suite 114E, Melville, NY, 11747-3177; Tel: 631-390-0215, Fax: 631-390-0217

http://asastore.aip.org/

Appropriate School Facilities for Students with Speech-Language-Hearing Disorders

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Technical Report: Appropriate school facilities for students with speech-language-hearing disorders. ASHA Supplement, 23, 2002

www.professional.asha.org (then enter document name in search field)

This document is a reference for speech-language pathologists, audiologists, parents, teachers, administrators, and school boards. It contains minimum requirements for creating optimal learning and assessment environments for students. It is designed to be a substantiating reference for use when building a new school, redesigning an existing structure, and/or advocating for improvement of facility work conditions. 29p.

Classroom Acoustics: A Resource for Creating Environments with Desirable Listening Conditions

http://asa.aip.org/classroom/booklet.html

Seep, B., Glosemeyer, R., Hulce, E., Linn, M., & Aytar, P. Acoustical Society of America, Technical Committee on Architectural Acoustics, Melville, NY, 2000

This booklet provides a general overview of classroom acoustic problems and their solutions for both new school construction and renovation. Practical explanations and examples are discussed on topics including reverberation, useful and undesirable reflections, mechanical equipment noise, interior noise sources, and sound reinforcement. Examples of good and bad acoustical classrooms are highlighted along with a case study involving an older classroom in an older university building where complaints of poor acoustics had been received. The booklet’s final section addresses acoustical guidelines for special rooms such as cafeterias and gymnasiums. An appendix provides quantitative definitions and calculations as well as resources for more detailed information. 16p.

Classroom Acoustics: Listening vs. Learning (9-1/2 minute video)

Available for $10 (plus shipping) from the Educational Audiology Association:

(800) 460-7322 (phone)

eaa@L-Tgraye.com (email)

http://www.edaud.org (website)

Good Classroom Acoustics is a Good Investment

http://www.nonoise.org/quietnet/qc/ica22001.htm

Lubman, David; Sutherland, Louis C. (Paper presented at the 17th Meeting of the International Commission for Acoustics, Rome, Italy, 2001)

Identifies and estimates some of the costs for good acoustics in new construction, economic benefits of good acoustics, and hidden costs of marginal or poor acoustics. Compares costs and benefits using recent data available in the United States. Notes that the economic benefits of good acoustics far outweigh the costs and that it is therefore a good economic investment to ensure that classrooms have good acoustics. Provides two charts and a reference to a related paper. 4p.

Progress Toward A New Standard on Classroom Acoustics for Children with Disabilities

http://www.access-board.gov/publications/acoustic-factsheet.htm

(U.S. Access Board, Washington, DC, 2002 )

Describes the steps the Access Board has taken since 1997 to develop recommendations for classroom acoustics that will include children with disabilities in a common standard. Resources on acoustics are listed, including a guide that provides a general overview of the subject, journal and magazine articles, textbooks about acoustics, information about training, and links to organizations that have additional information about acoustics. 3p.

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