Relationships between unoccupied classroom acoustical conditions and elementary student achievement measured in eastern Nebraska

Abstract

Building standards recommend maximum background noise levels (BNL) and reverberation times (RT) for unoccupied classrooms. However, existing research does not show a consistent correlation between these parameters and student achievement. Through in situ testing, this research seeks to determine what acoustical conditions should be attained in elementary schools for students to meet educational goals. Acoustical measurements were conducted in a Nebraska public school system and correlated to achievement scores from students in the surveyed classrooms. Unoccupied BNLs and RTs were gathered in 34 third and 33 fifth-grade classrooms. Additionally, binaural room impulse response measurements were gathered in a subset of the classrooms. The results suggest that student reading and language subject areas may be negatively impacted by higher unoccupied BNLs; to meet the upper half of NE state targets, these levels should be less than 45 dBA. However, the percentage of students receiving free or reduced price lunches is more strongly correlated to achievement than BNLs, and the negative correlations between noise and achievement are not significant when controlling for this demographic variable. One statistically significant relationship that remained when controlling for demographics was that classrooms with lower distortion of frequency-smoothed magnitude values generally had students with higher language scores.

A survey of acoustic conditions and noise levels in secondary school classrooms in England

“…8,10,15,23 Noise surveys of primary school classrooms have found that background noise levels in unoccupied classrooms typically average around 40-48 dBA (Ref. 13); a recent study of 67 elementary school classrooms in the U.S. (Ref.…”

“…13); a recent study of 67 elementary school classrooms in the U.S. (Ref. 10) found that unoccupied levels ranged from 33 to 54 dB L Aeq . A survey of noise in Italian secondary schools found much lower background noise levels (measured with the students present but quiet) of 33-44 dBA L Aeq , 9 while university classrooms have been found to have background levels of 35 dBA.…”

“…[8][9][10] This paper describes a study of the acoustic characteristics of secondary schools in the UK to provide information on the acoustic environment typical of today's schools and to examine factors which affect acoustic conditions in schools. The study includes noise and acoustic surveys of unoccupied and occupied spaces in secondary school buildings.…”

Investigating the acoustics of a sample of open plan and enclosed Kindergarten classrooms in Australia

“…High noise levels adversely affect speech perception [16,18], reading and language comprehension [28,38,49], cognition, concentration, and the psychoeducational and psychosocial achievement of the child [4,16,53]. It is also suggested that poor acoustical conditions and noise places additional demands on children's learning effort.…”

Effects of typical dining styles on conversation behaviours and acoustic perception in restaurants in China

“…The Lombard effect or Lombard reflex is the involuntary tendency of speakers to increase their vocal effort when speaking amid loud noise, to enhance the audibility of their voice [16]. Field research has found that the listener may follow conversation of interest despite many concurrent sources of sound [17].…”