Although teachers’ well-being and vocal health are affected by noise, research on classroom sound environment from the teachers’ perspective is scarce. This study investigated the relationship between teachers’ well-being and classroom acoustics. The possible influence of teachers’ age, experience, teaching grade and class size on the relationship was also investigated. In this study, well-being refers to self-reported vocal health, stress, burnout and self-efficacy. Twenty-three primary-school teachers answered questionnaires on well-being. In each teacher’s classroom, the acoustical properties were measured with the variables reverberation time, clarity of speech (C50) and ventilation system noise (VSN). A series of non-parametric correlations were run to determine the relationship between teachers’ well-being and classroom acoustics. Initially, there was a significant bivariate correlation between burnout and VSN, as well as voice symptoms correlated with VSN and teaching grade. Although the results became not significant after correction for multiple tests, the findings indicate that higher degree of burnout is associated with higher levels of VSN in classrooms, and voice symptoms increase with higher VSN. Teachers working in lower grades had more voice symptoms than those working in higher grades.
The present study reports on the development of a questionnaire that evaluates children's experiences of their physical classroom environment, activities and interactions. It also explores the psychometric properties of the questionnaire and how acoustical characteristics of the classroom, class size and student characteristics (age, sex and Swedish as a second language) influence the self-reported outcomes. After development, the questionnaire name should read Activities and Interactions in the Classroom were administered to 101 students (7.9–10.7 years old). Demographic information about the students was collected from parents. The psychometric properties including test–retest reliability are good but can be improved by reducing the number of items. Acoustical characteristics of the classrooms and student characteristics did not predict questionnaire outcomes. As the acoustical conditions in students’ classrooms were close to optimal, communication fostering support should be in focus. The present questionnaire can be used to assess young students’ experiences of their classroom environment and learning situations.
Teachers often report voice problems related to the occupational environment, and voice problems are more prevalent in teaching than in other occupations. Relationships between objectively measurable acoustical parameters and voice use have been shown. Speakers have been shown to be able to predict the speaker-comfort of an environment. Teachers with voice problems use the room differently than their voice-healthy controls. The aim of this study was to investigate what vocal changes speakers do in different acoustical environments and noise conditions. Nine female speakers, voice patients, and voice-healthy were exposed to four controlled, acoustical “environments” mounted in the same room: 1. stripped; 2. wall- and ceiling mounted absorbents; 3-4 as 2 but with extra ceiling absorbents and in two positions. The speakers were recorded with voice-accumulator and simultaneous voice recordings and spoke freely for 3-5 min in three noise conditions in each setting: silence, classroom noise (60 dBA), and day-care noise (75 dBA). Questionnaires on effort needed were completed by speakers and listeners. There was a co-play between the rooms and the subjectively assessed vocal- and listening effort and also a correlation to cognitive aspects. Listener assessments and the data from the voice accumulator will be presented. This knowledge may contribute to the area of classroom acoustics and speakers’ comfort in general.
It is important that classrooms provide good speech intelligibility and speak comfort. Being able to listen without effort is important for learning and we know that poor room acoustics is a burden that impedes learning and affect teachers' voice health. A good classroom is the Swedish forests where we can communicate over long distances without having to raise our voice. I have made several listening tests in forests and also measured the sound reflections in different forests. The results are interesting and I mean that “forest acoustics” should be the goal in terms of acoustic conditions in our schools. Many national sound standards put requirements on room acoustics in classrooms. One requirement is reverberation time, according to ISO 3382-2, and it is often evaluated with T20. Unfortunately, this is a very blunt measure, because we start T20-evaluation first after the sound pressure level dropped 5 dB. This “waiting time” is often quite long and it is a problem because we miss a lot of important information from the early part of the decay curve. Therefore, I mean we have to add C50 according to ISO 3382-1, to control if the room acoustics is good enough for teaching.
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