Panasonic WX-LA20 Manual

Acoustics in Educational Settings
(Summary)
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
ASHA, March 1995, 37, pp. 15-19
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) maintains the
position that all students should be provided with appropriate acoustical
environments in educational settings. Without the proper acoustical
characteristics in these environments, students will see a decline in their
attention, behavior, speech perception and learning.
ASHA has suggested that schools try to achieve the following to improve
listening conditions:
• Minimize speaker-to-listener distances by ensuring students sit in the direct
sound field of the teacher. Because students cannot always be in close range of
the teacher, artificial methods such as assistive listening devices should be used.
• Place classrooms in low traffic areas and away from external noise sources
such as playgrounds and HVAC equipment.
• Locate classrooms away from large group areas such as gymnasiums,
cafeterias and auditoriums.
• Landscape (trees, shrubs, and earthen banks) to reduce noise from external
sources.
• Equip classrooms with heavy carpeting, thick curtains and acoustical wall and
ceiling panels.
Because many of the suggestions above are impractical in all classrooms, ASHA
strongly supports the use of assistive listening systems in classrooms.
Research indicates improved speech recognition in students, both with normal
hearing and with hearing loss, who use amplification systems. Extensive
research and studies of acoustical conditions in classrooms reveal excessive
noise (any auditory disturbance) and reverberation (reflected sound energy).
Continued....