Room acoustics for kindergartens / schools

Room acoustics for kindergartens / schools

"It is equally hard on teachers, educators and children when a classroom or a kindergarten has reverberant, reflective acoustics. The ability to concentrate is severely impaired, and a constant loud background noise level causes psychological stress and has a negative effect on physical well-being."

The goal is therefore to dampen all occurring background noise and to achieve an increase in speech intelligibility.

In classrooms or day-care centres this can usually be achieved with manageable measures. With simple room geometries, introducing sound-absorbing surfaces is normally all that is required. In smaller rooms, lowering the reverberation time leads directly to better speech intelligibility and a reduced noise level. For rooms up to 300 m³ in volume, the upper limit for the reverberation time is T < 0.6 s.

A wide range of products in different materials and with freely configurable appearance is available for implementing room acoustic measures. Construction in the low frequency range is the most difficult part, and special bass absorbers are available for this purpose.

Early room acoustic planning allows greater scope for acoustic optimization. Our staff advise and support you with your questions and develop a joint concept for your premises.

Room acoustics for schools and kindergartens

In schools and classrooms it is recommended that the reverberation time stay below 0.6 seconds in order to maximize speech intelligibility. In rooms with poor acoustics, children understand on average 30% less of the spoken word than in rooms with optimized acoustics.

Examples of possible measures include, among others:

• Highly effective absorbers with individual design
• Suspended acoustic ceiling
• Sound-absorbing room dividers
• Increased speech intelligibility
• Reduction of the room sound level
• Avoidance of disturbing reflections

Services

• Creation of a room acoustic concept
• Room acoustic measurement
• Room acoustic simulation
• Calculation of room resonances
• Optimization proposals with preliminary product selection
• Consulting and project support