Stressed out by noise
Excessively noisy conditions in classrooms impact the student’s health, the way they think and their overall academic performance. A research team in France found that for every 10-dB increase in noise pollution, 8- to 9-year-old students performed 5.5 points lower on their national standardized test.
Moreover, noise is documented to be highest among children, who are also the most susceptible to the influence of noise interrupting their learning process. Compared to adults, children already struggle with complex listening as they are still developing their language skills. Exposure to noise polluted rooms can hurt a child's speech, listening and reading ability, their concentration and memory.
Improve room acoustics
Fortunately, efforts are made to improve learning environments, e.g. by setting a maximum reverberation time in the classroom. However, not all European countries have set the same requirement. The strictest reverberation time, 0.4, is in Norway. They have also set a minimum speech transmission index (STI) of 0.75, increasing a sentence’s intelligibility up to 96%. Other countries follow the example, but still there is a lot of work to be done.
Use the right materials
How to improve noisy classroom conditions and create a comfortable indoor climate? Using the right building materials is the first step. Stone wool, the core material used in our acoustic tiles and panels, is by nature a highly sound-absorbent. They promote high levels of acoustic comfort without having to use acoustic solutions with dimples, perforations or holes. Take a robust Rockfon VertiQ solution. These panels are very robust and enhance acoustics thoroughly.
Wall panels
