In this blog, we explore three common classroom audio challenges and practical ways schools can improve classroom acoustics, sound distribution and voice clarity. In addition, the article covers how modern classroom audio technology can support accessibility, hybrid learning and a better listening experience for every student.
Hearing is a primary pathway to learning, with students spending much of their school day listening to teachers, classmates, and multimedia content. That makes clear, intelligible classroom sound an important part of creating an effective learning environment.
Clear audio leads to better educational outcomes for both students and teachers. It helps students understand instruction while reducing the need for teachers to repeatedly raise their voices or repeat information.
And still, there are several factors that can interfere with a student's ability to listen and hear well, even if that student hasn't been diagnosed with a hearing impairment:
- Distance between teacher and students
- Classroom acoustics and room size
- Reverberation of sound and uneven sound distribution
- Ambient and background noise
- Placement of speakers, microphones and other classroom audio technology
Children can be particularly vulnerable to poor classroom acoustics because their speech-perception abilities are still developing. Research has shown that noise, reverberation, and speaker-to-listener distance can make it more difficult for children to understand speech, including children with normal hearing as well as those with hearing loss.
Once primarily associated with students with hearing impairments, classroom audio solutions can now be designed to improve speech intelligibility and create a more consistent listening experience throughout the room. Classroom audio enhancement can also support students with hearing, language, attention and learning needs.
Good classroom audio isn't simply about making the teacher louder. The goal is to make speech clear and intelligible throughout the learning space while controlling background noise and reverberation.
Clear Audio, Background Noise and Sound Distribution: 3 Common Classroom Audio Challenges
For nearly every classroom audio problem, there are technologies and design strategies that can help. The right classroom audio system starts with understanding the room, the people using it, and how instruction happens within the space.
Here are three common challenges to good classroom audio and how schools can address them.
Challenge: How Can Hybrid Classroom Technology Deliver Clear Audio to Remote Students?
Solution: Integrated classroom audio systems.
In higher education especially, an instructor or professor could have as many students listening to a lecture at home on their computers as sitting in the classroom or auditorium.
Regardless of whether a student is at home or in the classroom, they all need clear, intelligible audio.
Consider these possible solutions for remote and hybrid classrooms:
- Connect microphones to digital recording systems for clear, intelligible lecture capture.
- Install classroom microphone systems, such as ceiling, desk or instructor-worn microphones, to capture teachers and students.
- Use wearable microphones when appropriate so an instructor's voice remains consistent as they move around the classroom.
- Install high-fidelity audio streaming software applications into the classroom that integrate with common video conferencing tools, like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Cisco Webex, and others.
- Connect multimedia and interactive technology such as displays, interactive whiteboards, and content-sharing systems to the room's AV environment so students can clearly hear audio from every instructional source.
One common hybrid classroom microphone audio challenge is balancing voices from inside the room with voices joining remotely. Microphone placement, acoustic echo cancellation and proper system configuration can help remote participants hear classroom conversations without distracting echoes or excessive background noise.
Continued communication, with surveys of the environment, will help optimize the virtual and in-person classroom experience for the long term.
Pro Tip: As teachers increasingly use platforms like Zoom or Teams to deliver courses virtually, consider integrating a polling feature into the class to gauge comprehension and improve engagement. Seek out a polling platform in advance, or use one that's included in the software, and write out three to four polls prior to class. Tell students at the beginning of the class that polling will occur, and then deliver them at scheduled times. Analyze the results at the end of class.
Challenge: How Can Schools Improve Classroom Acoustics and Reduce Background Noise?
Solution: Acoustical room modifications.
The best-case scenario is to address acoustical interference when a room is being designed, but that is not always an option.
A lot of ambient noise in classrooms comes from outside the room itself, such as street noise coming through a window, noise from the hallway seeping through the door, or mechanical systems such as HVAC equipment. Hard surfaces can also reflect sound back into the room, creating reverberation that makes speech more difficult to understand.
Improving classroom acoustics may include:
- Adding acoustical wall or ceiling panels to absorb reflected sound
- Adding carpeting, rugs or other absorptive materials
- Using curtains or other treatments to reduce reflections from large windows
- Sealing gaps around doors and windows to reduce outside noise
- Positioning noisy equipment away from primary teaching and listening areas
Pricing for acoustical panels can vary, but curtains and rugs can be more cost-effective solutions that can help teachers solve ambient noise issues quickly.
Classroom Acoustics Standards
Schools planning new classrooms or renovations should also consider recognized classroom acoustics standards. The ASA/ANSI S12.60 series establishes acoustical performance criteria and design requirements for learning spaces, including considerations for background noise, sound isolation and reverberation. These standards reinforce an important principle: effective classroom sound begins with the room itself. Audio technology works best when acoustics, background noise, and system design are considered together.
Challenge: How Do You Create Even Classroom Sound Distribution?
Solution: Classroom voice amplification and properly distributed speakers.
The greater the distance between students and the teacher, the harder it is for students to hear. Simply turning up one speaker isn't necessarily the answer. It can make sound uncomfortably loud near the speaker while students farther away still struggle to understand instruction.
A properly designed classroom audio distribution system helps create more even sound coverage across the room. The objective is consistent speech intelligibility, so students aren't placed at an audio disadvantage simply because of where they sit.
The most basic classroom voice amplification solution may include an instructor microphone and strategically placed speakers. More advanced classroom sound systems can combine wireless or wearable microphones, distributed loudspeakers, digital signal processing, and control technology. In a dynamic sound-field system, the microphone that is used by the teacher transmits sound to speakers placed evenly throughout the entire room, allowing sound to be delivered at the same, comfortable volume to students no matter where they are.
Accessibility should also be part of classroom audio planning. Depending on the learning environment and applicable accessibility requirements, assistive listening technology may be needed to complement the primary audio system.
How to Set Up a Classroom for Better Sound
Whether you're upgrading an existing room or planning a new learning space, a few basic guidelines can improve classroom sound quality:
- Start with the room. Identify noise from HVAC equipment, hallways, windows and adjoining spaces before selecting technology.
- Control reflections. Use appropriate acoustic treatments to reduce excessive reverberation from hard walls, ceilings, floors and windows.
- Design for even coverage. Position speakers so students receive consistent sound throughout the room rather than relying on excessive volume from one location.
- Consider room size and layout. Larger, flexible or unusually shaped spaces may require additional speakers, microphones or zones within the classroom audio distribution system.
- Plan microphone coverage around teaching styles. Wearable microphones can support instructors who move around the room, while ceiling or tabletop microphones can capture student discussion and collaboration.
- Integrate multimedia. Classroom audio should work seamlessly with video conferencing, displays, interactive technology and other instructional media rather than operating as a separate system.
- Include accessibility from the beginning. Consider students with hearing and other communication needs during planning instead of treating accessibility as an add-on later.
For more complex environments, an AV assessment can help schools determine which combination of room treatments and classroom audio technology will deliver the best results.
Students and Teachers Benefit From Improved Audio
Poor classroom audio quality can affect students and teachers alike. Teachers may raise their voices or repeat themselves when students can't hear clearly, while students can expend additional effort trying to understand instruction through noise and reverberation.
A thoughtfully designed classroom audio system addresses the complete listening environment, from acoustics and voice amplification to multimedia, accessibility and hybrid classroom technology. The result is technology that supports instruction rather than getting in the way of it.
Whether you're improving a single classroom or standardizing learning technology across a campus or district, FORTÉ can help you evaluate classroom acoustics, AV technology and collaboration needs to create spaces designed for clear communication.
