Michael T. Nixon - mtnixon@aol.com
EA. Acoustical Engineering Inc.
2810 Urbandale Lane
Plymouth, MN 55447-1557
Popular version of paper 5aAA1
Presented Friday morning, November 5, 1999
138th ASA Meeting, Columbus, Ohio
A little over a hundred years ago Wallace Clement Sabine stated that "architectural acoustics was the most neglected branch of the science of sound." For the past several decades architectural acoustics has still been the most neglected element in architectural design. Fortunately that is about to change due to passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
For several decades research audiologists recognized the impact of poor acoustical environments on hearing, learning and speaking. Citing background noise and high levels of reverberation as the major barriers to effective communications in the classroom they attempted to improve the listening conditions in classrooms through the use of FM amplification systems. Background noise and excessive reverberation are problems that have their origins in the architectural design of the building and thus demand architectural solutions.
Interpreting the legislative language of the ADA revealed that a poor acoustical environment can be as much of an architectural barrier to people with hearing and other disabilities, just as much a set of steps can be considered to be architectural barrier to a person in a wheelchair. Under the ADA architectural barriers are prohibited. Thus it has been the ADA that has become the path of least resistance to advocate for acoustical standards.
At the 1996 ASA meeting in Indianapolis, the late Robin (Buzz) Towne, a prominent acoustical engineer from Seattle Washington, presented compelling evidence that poor acoustics was a major barrier to learning and greater academic achievement by millions of this nation's student population. At the Indianapolis meeting the Technical Committee, Architectural Acoustics, convened a subcommittee to focus on Classroom Acoustics and shortly thereafter ASA formed an interdisciplinary Task Force comprised of members from the Architectural Acoustics, Noise, Speech and Communications and Psychological and Physiological Technical Committees.
The formation of the subcommittee for classroom acoustics became the catalyst by which communications barriers between the related disciplines could be removed through the sharing of knowledge in context of the whole classroom acoustics agenda. In December of 1997 a unique interdisciplinary Workshop on Classroom Acoustics was held in Los Angeles sponsored by ASA in collaboration with EAA, ASHA, INCE, AAA, SHHH, ASHRAE, CEFPI, NCAC, the California Dept of Education and the ADA federal regulatory agency ATBCB (the Access Board).
The concluding consensus arrived at by the attendees to the LA. Workshop was that the collaboration demonstrated at the workshop between the various organizations and the disciplines they represented should continue. A loose Coalition for Classroom Acoustics was implemented to continue the dialog.
In 1998 an abortive attempt to introduce classroom acoustical standards into the proposed upgrade for ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) for "Children's Facilities", by ASA and other member organizations of the Coalition failed at that particular time. However the comments and solicitations from the many Coalition members supported by a "Petition" from the parent of a severely hearing impaired child, moved the Access Board to issue a formal Request For Information (RFI) on Classroom Acoustics. The collaborative response to the RFI by members of the Coalition and many other individuals compelled the Access Board, at their May Board Meeting, to approve a proposed course of action designed to support the development and subsequent adoption of enforceable acoustical standards.
Following the proposed course of action by the Access Board in May 1999 the ASA convened an ANSI approved Committee S12 to undertake the development of Standards for Classroom Acoustics for new and remodeled buildings. In October of 1999 the Access Board published an announcement in the Federal Register outlining the need for, and support of, the development of acoustical standards for school facilities.
A meeting of the ANSI S12 WG-42 Working Group will review the third draft of the standards scheduled for completion in late 2000 for presentation to the Access Board for review and subsequent adoption into the ADAAG.
In view of the great emphasis that has been placed on improving educational achievement over the past few years, and given that school facilities continue to be built and renovated at a record level, it seems fitting that the establishment of acoustical standards should begin with educational facilities. However, since the ADA covers all people in many different environments, the classroom acoustical standards may be seen as a prelude to improving the acoustical environment in all types of buildings throughout society.
While the ADA has become the vehicle by which acoustical standards can be implemented into our national building codes, it is important for society to understand that good or bad acoustical environments impact all people. Research reveals that persons with certain hearing and communications related disabilities are victimized to a far greater extent than many "normal" people. Furthermore society needs to understand that simply being able to hear is a far cry from being able to distinguish effortlessly what is being said. Good speech discrimination is directly influenced by the architectural conditions in which the listener is in at any given time.
Looking ahead, the development of acoustical standards for schools and other facilities is relatively simple compared to the task of educating society that the acoustical environment in schools cannot, any longer be overlooked. The scientific evidence is overwhelming; far more students are at risk educationally than previously thought to be the case. Excessive noise and reverberation in schools has been identified as a major problem that affects not only students but teachers as well.
With all of the current problems confronting educators today, poor acoustical environments are a major problem even though it is not perceived as such by most lay people. It is also a problem for which there are scientific solutions that can be taken out of the overall equation while educators and sociologists address the other complex issues.