Have you ever been in a room full of people all talking at once n and found that the sound level builds up and up until you have to shout to be heard? I noticed this at a Christmas gathering where most people naturally assumed that this was only the effect of too much wine. But could the effect be made worse by the design of the (room? Looking around I could see that all the walls and ceiling were very reflective. If the surfaces were designed to absorb the sound rather than reflecting it straight back then it would be deadened and maybe the crowd wouldn't go into that vicious circle of raising voices more and more to be heard. The acoustics of Christmas parties are not particularly important but imagine having to teach 30 less than co-operative youngsters if the sound levels start to rise. Poor acoustic design of schools can seriously affect the learning experience, not to mention the teacher's throat and stress levels. It has been shown that a little more care at the design stage can greatly improve the atmosphere in the classroom, even improving standards of behaviour. That is why the design of schools to Building Bulletin 93 (BB93) has been made mandatory under the Building Regulations. The amount of absorption in a classroom must now be designed to reduce the build-up of reverberant poise.
展开▼
