Soundproofing a Classroom

Enviornmental noise in a teaching facility can have an adverse effect on the learning process. If students can't understand their teacher, grades drop. If grades drop, so do teacher evaluations, student attention spans and school budget allocations. Effective learning is soon replaced with higher levels of turnover, absenteeism and drop out rates. Because most classroom settings are filled with hard, reflective surfaces for cleanability, these surfaces in the room will absorb less than 5% of the sound wave reflections from a teacher's voice. As a result, echoes will take the room over and blur original sound signals. Despite the teacher's best intentions, communications are hampered as echoes karom off the walls, ceiling and floor of the room, impeding the student's ability to discern speech and learn.

As a result of these poor environmental learning conditions, soundproofing treatments have been developed to capture the unwanted sound wave reflections in a classroom, slowing the level of echo, which in turn produces greater clarity to original voice. Once a classroom has been properly treated for sound attenuation, the background noise has collapsed, givinig the student a clear and distinct sound signal from their teacher. As a result, grades improve, so do teacher evlautions and school rankings for future budget allocations.

The key to a successfull classroom treatment for acoustics is to introduce surface mounted sound panels designed to capture the echoes and absorb them. While there are a variety of sound panel options on the market, careful consideration should be given to product choice and quantities required to produce the results intended. Selecting the right product is a process of elimination. Say no to products that are not class A fire rated, say no to products that are not durablel and designed for rooms filled with kids, and say yes to decorative, fire rated, self-installable sound panels that can be either wall or ceiling mounted in the room.

One popular method for reducing echoes in a classroom filled with loud, active kids is to suspend a set of sound panels parallel to your ceiling, floating them out over the room as clouds. These are colofrul, cloth wrapped sound panelsl that hang parallel to the ceiling, allowing the teacher to leave the walls alone. Most classroom settings have blackboards, glass windows, and school projects surface mounted around the room, making the ceiling a natural option for surface mounting sound panels. These popular ceiling panels are cloth wrapped, their average size is 3'x4', they are available in 60 colors measuring 1" thick, and are easy to self install in even rows and columns spread throughout the expanse of the classroom ceiling. They are designed to hover over the room, capturing echoes and clearing out the background noise.

George Washington Elementary School in Kingston, NY had classroom acoustic problems. The walls were concrete block, the floor was tiled, the ceiling also concrete. The acoustic quality in their classroom was poor, one teacher stood up and asked for help. Julie Cash was introduced to the ceiling sound panel option, and she decided to try it. Panels were produced and shipped to her classroom, here was her response:

"I am writing to tell you how thrilled I am with the sound panels that were recently installed in my classroom. Prior to having the panels installed, I had a very serious noise problem in my elementary classroom. Voices in the classroom seemed to echo and travel across the room, while it was extremely difficult to hear what the person sitting right next to me was saying. I thought I had developed a serious hearing problem, it was so bad! The ceiling panels have solved the problem! Now we can have class discussions and hear what each child is saying, there is no echo, and quiet conversations are no longer a challenge."

If you are experiencing unwelcome levels of noise in your classroom setting, the ceiling mounted sound panel option might be the perfect antidote!


------

Mark Rustad is President and founder of NetWell Noise Control. He has spent the past 20 years tailoring specific soundproofing treatments for more than 10,000 satisfied clients around the globe. For more information on the acoustical materials and soundproofing advice you seek, visit NetWell online at www.controlnoise.com