DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

Investigation of the Acoustic Performance of Lower Grade Elementary School Classrooms

초등학교 저학년 교실의 실내음향성능 실태조사

  • Jo, A-Hyeon (Dept. of Architectural Engineering, Chungbuk National Univ.) ;
  • Park, Chan-Jae (Dept. of Architectural Engineering, Chungbuk National Univ.) ;
  • Haan, Chan-Hoon (Dept. of Architectural Engineering, Chungbuk National Univ.)
  • Received : 2021.02.25
  • Accepted : 2021.05.24
  • Published : 2021.05.30

Abstract

Speech information of teachers is transmitted to students in classrooms so that appropriate aural environment should be provided for academic purposes. Many researches have been undertaken for classroom acoustics, and acoustic standards of domestic classrooms were suggested based on the reverberation time and background noise level. However, these standards are suitable for middle and high schools and so not consider the auditory ability by ages. As a precedent research, the present study was begun to suggest an acoustic standard for lower grade elementary school classrooms with children under age 9 who have not normal auditory ability. In order to do this, acoustic performances of the lower grade classrooms were measured and compared with the general classrooms. Also, change of acoustic parameters depending on the desk layout was measured and analyzed. The measured acoustic parameters were background noise, signal to noise ratio, RT, STI, D50, and IACC. As a result, it was found that background noise is exceed the standard of 35dB(A) at the schools along the road sides. Also, it was shown that most of acoustic parameters are higher in the classrooms built recently rather than the old classrooms. Generally, there are not much difference of acoustic parameters among the various desk layouts but, better acoustic performances are acquired at the center line and the seats near sound source. Also, Higher IACC was measured at the seats on the center line facing the source squarely.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF) grant funded by the Korea government(MSIT) (No. 2020R1A2C2009963)

References

  1. A. L. Bronzaft, The effect of a noise abatement program on reading ability, J. Envir. Psych. 1, 215-222, 1981 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-4944(81)80040-0
  2. J. S. Bradley, Relationships among measures of speech intelligibility in rooms, J. Aud. Eng. Soc. 46, 396-404, 1998
  3. K. P. Roy, Green rating systems and classroom acoustic design, ICA 2010: 20th International Congress on Acoustics 20, 1-6, 2010
  4. ANSI/ASA S12.60, Acoustical Performance Criteria, Design Requirements, and Guidelines for Schools - Part 1 : Permanent Schools, American National Stan-dard, 10, 2010
  5. Building Bulletin 93, Acoustic Design of Schools, The Department for Education and Skills, U.K. 2011
  6. Ding Wei, Park, Chan-Jae and Haan, Chan-Hoon, Comparison of the Korean and Chinese speech intelligibility with increasing sound absorption in a classroom (in Korean), J. Acoust. Soc. Kr. 31, 129-141, 2012
  7. Park, Chan-Jae, Establishment of the Acoustical Performance Criteria for Middle and High School Classrooms in Korean, Ph.D. thesis, Chungbuk National University, 2014
  8. Park, Chan-Jae, Jo, Sung-Min and Haan, Chan-Hoon, Influence of SNR difference on the Korean speech intelligibility in classrooms (in Korean), J. Acoust. Soc. Kr. 38, 651-660, 2019
  9. Park, Chan-Jae and Haan, Chan-Hoon, Effect of the Inter-aural Level Differences on the Speech Intelligibility Depending on the Room Absorption in Classrooms, J. Acoust. Soc. Kr. 32, 335-345, 2013 https://doi.org/10.7776/ASK.2013.32.4.335
  10. M. Nilsson, S. D. Soli, and J. A. Sullivan, Development of the hearing In noise test for the measurement of speech reception thresholds in quiet and in noise, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 95, 1085-1099, 1994 https://doi.org/10.1121/1.408469
  11. B. B. Peggy, D. S. Sigfrid, and S. Anne, Classroom Acoustics II : acoustical barriers ti learning, Technical Committee on Speech Communication of the Acoustical Society of America, 2002
  12. Park, Chan-Jae, Ryu, Da-Jung, Kyoung, Ju-Young and Haan, Chan-Hoon, Analysis of the Acoustic Performance of Classrooms in Korea (in Korean), J. Acoust. Soc. Kr. 33, 316-325, 2014 https://doi.org/10.7776/ASK.2014.33.5.316
  13. M. D. Egan, Architectural Acoustics (J. Ross Pub, Plantation), pp. 325, 2007
  14. T. Houtgast, The effect of ambient noise on speech intelligibility in classrooms, Applied Acoustics, 14, 15-25, 1981 https://doi.org/10.1016/0003-682X(81)90040-2
  15. Madan Mehta, James Johnson, Jorge Rocafort, Architectural Acoustics, Prentice
  16. B. G. Shinn-Cunningham, N. Kopco, and T. J. Martin, Localizing nearby sound sources in a classroom: binaural room impulse responses, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 117, 3100-3115M 2005 https://doi.org/10.1121/1.1872572