Using a smartphone to investigate classroom acoustics

Abstract

We present a proposal for active learning about environmental acoustics and room acoustics for high school and undergraduate students. Students work on the concepts of sound pressure level and reverberation time through a set of activities centred on speech communication in the school. For experimental work, they use smartphone applications for sound measurement. At the end of the work, students would be able to suggest some actions to improve the acoustic comfort in school. The students’ interest increases as they focus on their own experience. Moreover, they can apply and test the solutions that they propose.

The acoustic designer: Joining soundscape and architectural acoustics in architectural design education

“…Some other researchers have supported the adoption of smartphones in environmental acoustics education. 154–156 Kitapci 90 followed a different approach and argued for a teaching module in interior design schools based on four phases addressing Schafer’s principles earlier mentioned: the technical lecture phase, the preliminary research and soundwalks phase, the initial design phase, and the holistic soundscape design phase. Kitapci 90 motivates the criticism to existing courses stating thatthe main objective of the design-oriented architectural acoustics course is to create awareness of the students in the built and natural soundscapes.…”