Amanda Robinson

ABSTRACT

Acoustic metrics for innovative learning environments

Traditional acoustic parameters are often used to describe the environment within learning environments. These include metrics such as ambient sound levels, reverberation time and sound reduction to adjoining spaces.

For a recent study, additional acoustic parameters beyond the traditional ones have been used to evaluate these types of environments, including speech intelligibility, privacy distance, and spatial decay distance in a range of different types of education spaces. The spaces varied in terms of floor area, volume and whether the space was partitioned from the surrounding area.

This presentation will go through the strengths and limitations of the metrics, and whether there are additional insights that can be used to assist speakers and listeners in innovative learning environments.