A Better-sounding Classroom
Faculty Sponsor
Dan White, Ph.D.
College
Engineering
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Symposium Date
Spring 5-4-2017
Abstract
This project focuses on how acoustic treatment in a lecture hall or classroom can be utilized to enhance student learning capabilities through the maximization of speech intelligibility. The first stages of the study involve taking acoustic measurements and impulse responses in empty rooms, using measurement microphones and audio signal analysis software, and subsequently taking the same measurements with students, furniture, and objects in the room to determine the ways in which student and object presence affects acoustic properties in the classroom. After this data is collected, wall treatments will be added to the room to enhance acoustic resonance. Students may be brought into the treated classroom in order to observe the effects of the acoustic treatment and enhanced speech intelligibility in the treated classroom. This data will be used to develop the optimal acoustic environment for speech intelligibility, as well as student understanding and learning, in the classroom or lecture hall setting. Efficient acoustic wall treatments can be developed in order to treat the classrooms and lecture halls that are already in use on campus in order to enhance student learning on the VU campus.
Recommended Citation
MacNeil, John A., "A Better-sounding Classroom" (2017). Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE). 619.
https://scholar.valpo.edu/cus/619
