What's acoustically friendly in this room?

The low, acoustically tiled ceiling. The tiles — while perhaps not aesthetically beautiful — are just about ideal for sound control:

1. Materials used to make the tiles have the ability to absorb about 85 percent of sound striking the surface.

2. The ceiling may be the largest area within the classroom where a single material can be used to absorb — rather than reflect — sound. Thus, the addition of an acoustical tile ceiling can be a real voice-saver for the teacher.

3. When the classroom ceiling soaks up sound, it stops "flutter" echoes. Flutter echoes occur when two large parallel surfaces (such as the ceiling and floor) allow sounds to quickly bounce back and forth, creating a ringing noise.

What's acoustically friendly in this room?

The floor covering:

1. Carpet (or area rugs) absorb — rather than reflect — your voice. If a teacher's voice continuously echoes, each echo interferes with the next word. This creates an auditory mess for students to unscramble.

2. Scraping of chairs, pattering of feet and thudding of desks are muted by the underlying noise absorber.

3. In multi-story buildings, carpets and rugs reduce the spread of noise to classrooms below.

What's acoustically friendly in this room?

Wonderful windows!

These windows — new, thick and tightly-fitted — don't allow clamor from outdoors to seep in. The yips and yells of the kids on the playground are almost completely muffled.

The drapes absorb noise. Fabric tends to sop up sound, while unadorned hard window glass bounces sound waves back into the room.

What's acoustically friendly in this room?

An updated, well-functioning and quiet heating and cooling system can really reduce background ("white") noise in the classroom.

Acoustically friendly heating and cooling systems feature mechanical components located away from "critical listening spaces" (classrooms). In this school, the mechanical equipment is located on the roof above the gymnasium.

Adequately-sized ductwork also reduces the speed of air movement and thus, reduces noise.

Ideally, an empty classroom should be as quiet as your living room (30-35 decibels).

What's acoustically friendly in this room?

Teacher position

This voice-saving tip doesn't cost a cent, nor does it require physical changes to the classroom.

Simply stand closer to your students when you teach. You won't need to crank up your vocal volume to reach your students' ears.

What's acoustically friendly in this room?

The wall facing the teacher soaks up sound
To help your students learn, your speech must travel to their ears — but just once. If your speech is reflected back off a hard wall, the echo interferes with your next words.

Sorting the echo from the new speech is difficult for your students (particularly those who are hard of hearing or have attention disorders). It also makes your voice compete with itself!

Sound-deadening wall coverings are usually soft in texture: fabric panels (such as those found in room dividers) or cork or burlap bulletin boards. A row of hanging sweaters and coats, plants or a beanbag chair will soak up sound.

This teacher is also lucky because on the other side of the wall is the school library.

What's acoustically friendly in this room?

Its door. Does the door in your classroom support your voice?

This door closes tightly to keep out noise from the hall.

It does not feature an open transom.

The door is located off a small corridor, branched off from a major traffic area.

The entrance to the room has two sets of doors, in effect, setting up a "sound lock" buffer.