by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
This wonderful piece by noise pioneer Arline Bronzaft, PhD, one of The Quiet Coalition’s founders, summarizes her work and the work of others on how noise affects children’s learning.
Noise interferes with human function by disturbing concentration and interfering with communication. The EPA determined that “library quiet”– that is, a 45 dBA ambient noise level–is necessary to allow 100% speech intelligibility (see text at Figure D-1). Not surprisingly, when transportation noise intrudes into the classroom, children can’t hear what the teacher says, and this interferes with their learning.
Dr. Bronzaft’s article includes links to her groundbreaking work.
The Acoustical Society of America and the American National Standards Institute developed a standard for classroom acoustics, and more information is available at this link.
