Browsing by Author "Mäkelä, Juha"

Purpose of this study Classroom acoustics has been studied since the early 1900 ́s. The essential parameter of the room acoustics reverb time and the way to calculate it, was developed by experiments in the lecture halls of the Harvard University by professor W.C. Sabine 120 years ago. In Finland, specialists in acoustics have taken part as early as the 1940s and 1950s to the design of schools, and knowledge about the importance of good acoustics to the teaching and learning has been available for decades. Studies show that in Finland and also in the other countries, classrooms are problematic in terms of the acoustics, which may cause learning difficulties and even exclusion. The noise reinforced by the poor acoustics is a health risk for the teachers and the students. In this study, I present a general overview of current understanding about classroom acoustics and provide a compact package of information about the classroom acoustics and importance of it to the learning and teaching. The overview is backed up by an empirical case study from 2018-2019 performed at the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki. Methods In this study, I performed a compact literature review regarding current studies about the acoustics of learning environments, acoustic problems in those environments, and regarding how children hear and understand what they are listening in environments with different acoustic features. In the case study, I analyzed the room acoustics measurements of a refurbished teaching space at Siltavuorenpenger 5, Faculty of Educational Sciences, with pre- and post-measurement data before and after a comprehensive renovation of the space and its furniture. Results and conclusion Very little has been changed in classroom acoustics. The knowledge and the skills to provide good acoustics are readily available but apparently very seldom renovations or the repairs include changing the acoustics when being made. In the case study, all user profiles included elements related to the sound environment and acoustics. Through material selection and rearrangements in the teaching space, the acoustical properties of the learning environment were improved quite significantly. It remains to be studied, how open learning environments, which are being built in many new schools, with sometimes very high numbers of children, can also support well-being in terms of the soundscape.