Summary of National Standards on classroom acoustics: The data collection

Abstract

Improving acoustic comfort in classrooms is paramount for enhancing intelligibility, fostering student concentration, and alleviating the vocal strain on teachers. The global discourse on acoustic quality in educational buildings has intensified in recent decades, with each country establishing its unique set of building codes, standards, guidelines, and voluntary point protocols to delineate acoustic quality parameters. Geometrical and architectural classroom variations, influenced by cultural and historical contexts, further contribute to the diversity of approaches. The present work provides a summary that investigates and compares local standards across various countries worldwide, aiming to offer a holistic understanding of the classroom acoustic landscape. The motivation for this summary lies in finding regulations that are not easily searchable on Scholar or Scopus. It involves human interpretation and consideration of building codes, often in local languages. More than 70 experts, distributed across continents, were queried about his local standards, their enforceability, room criteria, design rules; and non-acoustic factors like classroom geometry, average occupancy, and flexibility of learning spaces. By synthesizing insights from diverse regions, this study aspires to provide a global perspective on the state of acoustic quality in educational settings, shedding light on potential areas for improvement.