Contribution of non‐verbal and non‐ventilation noise sources to background noise levels in elementary school classrooms.

Abstract

The goal of this project was to determine the effect of hard versus soft flooring on overall speech and activity noise levels in elementary classrooms. Long‐term calibrated sound recordings were measured in second and fifth grade classrooms. Within each grade level, two different classrooms were used: one with vinyl composition tile (VCT) flooring and one with short‐pile rubber‐backed commercial carpeting. The same students circulated between these rooms by grade level, providing a means of comparing sound levels generated by the same population on different floor surfaces. The VCT and carpeted classrooms had similar floor area, layout, and room volume. Recordings were edited to parse the calibrated WAV files into separate segments of (a) teacher/student speech (without other activity) and (b) classroom activity noise including footfalls, chair scrapes, and impacts (no speech). It was found that the type of flooring made a significant difference in measured activity noise. Increased levels found in the VCT classrooms were attributed more to interactive effects with the floor types than to differences in total room acoustic absorption. The third‐octave bands where significant activity noise levels occurred varied by age group. Implications for future floor treatments are discussed. [Work supported by Paul S. Veneklasen Research Foundation.]