Last month, Emma Greenland travelled to Sweden to present on her specialist subject of acoustic design for educational settings at the EIAS 2023 International Acoustics Seminar
This conference has gathered people with a professional interest in room acoustics for decades. Thoughts have been revealed, ground-breaking research has been presented and new friendships have grown. EIAS exists because sound matters and we all believe that we can improve conditions in healthcare, in schools and in offices by improving acoustic conditions.
The title of Emma’s presentation was ‘Acoustic Design for Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Classrooms – A Reasonable Adjustments Approach’ in which she explored how we can reasonably adjust acoustics to ensure that the design does not place people with disabilities at a disadvantage.
Acoustic standards remain unregulated in nearly all Early Years Settings in England. This despite our evidence base below which demonstrates a crucial need for good acoustics in these settings:-
>Day care facilities can have the highest noise levels (up to 85 dBA)
>Young children have a speech perception deficit in noise
>Special Hearing and Communication Needs is most prevalent
>Mild/temporary hearing loss is highly prevalent
>Young children lack phonological awareness, auditory processing, sentence recall skills, or discipline to focus on a task in presence of noise
>Lower noise in day care linked to improved listening skills and wellbeing in children. (pre-reading/language/ attention/persistence)
She addressed the valid question: “why don’t we apply the inclusion SEN acoustic standard to all learning spaces?”
Emma co-authored the Building Bulletin 93 (regulation in England) and is subject matter expert for a 2022 Department for Education research project. She regularly attends industry conferences and seminars sharing her knowledge and insight. Forthcoming events where Emma will be discussing her research include at:
Association of Noise Consultants – 27th June – Acoustic Design and Testing of Schools
Education Estates – 18th-19th October – Improving Access to Listening in mainstream schools
Education of Construction Networks – 16th November – Has acoustic performance in education buildings improved?
