Room: D137-138

Audience: Architects

Call to Action: Don’t just listen to students, teachers, and parents; listen to the spaces where they learn and teach and think about how the acoustics of these places shapes their experiences and think about the words that you would use to effectively describe them.

Abstract: Students require clear, intelligible instruction to be able to understand and process new ideas. Teachers and administrators need attentive students in an environment free from unnecessary distractions. Mechanical engineers have to figure out how to ventilate and provide thermal comfort throughout buildings while maintaining comfortable noise levels. And architects are tasked with synthesizing ideas from several disciplines and stakeholders into a cohesive project while providing distinct, acoustically separated learning spaces. Using interactive acoustic simulations, we will demonstrate and contextualize how sound isolation, background noise levels, distracting sounds, and reverberation control affect each of these stakeholders. This presentation is intended to be more show than tell, providing soundscapes for the audience to experience the different ways acoustics can affect building design and learning outcomes. We aim to provide a language with which to help effectively communicate ideas and needs related to acoustics. Further, we then want to apply this to guide a discussion about how acoustics affects different communities and how to consider and incorporate this into learning environments.

Learning Objectives:

1. We aim to provide stakeholders with helpful language and a better understanding of sound isolation, background noise, reverberation, and distracting sounds.
2. Additionally, the audience will have an experiential reference point about acoustic metrics and design criteria.
3. They will develop language to better advocate for the acoustic environment that they want incorporated into the project.
4. And finally, we want the audience to walk away with new ideas about how to consider the effects of acoustics specific to the community being served, including minority groups, English as a second language students, and hard of hearing students.