Do classroom acoustics affect student learning?

There have been many studies done over the years to measure and assess the noise levels in our classrooms, and the effect of these noise levels on the students and their learning development. It can be difficult to assess the relevance of these reports on the modern day learning environment but here’s a few points to consider.

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A teacher’s opinion on noise

Most teachers we speak to complain about the noise being too high. However, we need some more evidence than just feelings to back this up. Joanne Valentine from Marshall Day Acoustics and her team examined this subject and wrote a paper titled Classroom Acoustics - A New Zealand Perspective. In this report, Joanne provides some statistics including:

71% of the teachers surveyed reported that noise generated within the classroom is a problem.
35% of the teachers complained that the level that they needed to speak at strained their voice.
61 % of teachers reported that most or all the noise created inside the classroom is student generated.
86% of the teachers surveyed have problems with noise generated outside the classroom eg. from nearby classrooms, corridors, decks, sports fields, lawnmowers, and road traffic etc.

Many reports on this subject advise that many teachers believe that noise is often at a level that significantly increases their stress and irritability – and we’re sure the kids would agree!

What level of noise is in the average NZ classroom?

In the Classroom Acoustics - A New Zealand Perspective report, the team display their finding on classroom noise levels based on site studies in a random selection of 24 class rooms. The ‘recorded noise’ below is a recorded message simulating the general babble of classroom noise. The live statistics are actual recordings taken when the complete class was working in teams of two.

Read Classroom Acoustics - A New Zealand Perspective

Without getting into the data too heavily, the results are clear. The decibel rating on the average ‘poor room’ i.e. a classroom with poor acoustics, compared to the decibel rating for the average ‘good room’.

To assess this data you do need a basic understanding of how the ‘decibel’ rating system works. Read the article titled decibels in class rooms to understand this further.

Conclusion, and what we can do about it.

To quote the Maxwell & Evans report in 2000 “classroom environments with excessive background noise and reverberation have the potential to negatively influence learners’ reading and numeracy skills, in conjunction with detrimentally affecting overall academic performance.”

Our classrooms in general are unquestionably too noisy, and this is undoubtedly having an effect on our students learning, and on our teachers. To understand what you can do about the noise problem, check out 3 Step Roadmap To Improving The Acoustics In Your Classroom’.