Computer studies of optimum classroom acoustics

Abstract

A typical classroom was simulated using the ODEON room acoustics modeling program. Useful-to-detrimental sound ratio (U50) values were calculated from the ODEON output combined with speech and noise levels and were the basis of speech intelligibility scores. The first series of tests varied the ceiling absorption and to determine the reverberation time (RT) corresponding to the maximum intelligibility. The second series varied the location of the sound absorbing material to determine the location that maximized intelligibility. The values of calculated speech intelligibility versus RT shows that the optimum RT corresponds to about 0.5 s but a range of RT values from about 0.3-0.6 s lead to intelligibility scores within 0.5% of the maximum.