Effects of classroom acoustics on performance and well- being in elementary school children: A field study

Children are more impaired than adults by unfavorable listening conditions such as reverberation and noise. Nevertheless, the acoustical conditions in classrooms often do not fit the specific needs of young listeners. This field study aimed to analyze effects of classroom reverberation on reading abilities, annoyance due to indoor noise, and school attitudes in second graders. Performance and questionnaire data were collected from 398 children from 17 classrooms differing in mean reverberation time from 0.49 to 1.1 seconds. The children from classrooms with poor acoustics performed worse in a phonological processing task assessing auditory-verbal precursors of reading, reported a higher burden of indoor noise in the classrooms, and judged their relationships to their peers and teachers less positively than children from classrooms with good acoustics. The results underline the importance of good acoustical conditions in elementary school classrooms.