Can your child hear their teacher in the classroom?

There’s an odd element in the design of your children’s classroom that really affects their education, and I bet you’ve not thought about it much.

That element is classroom acoustics, and though they’re not often talked about, they actually have a huge impact on a child’s rate of learning.

Ecophon UK has conducted a study that reveals the extent of the problem. For children to gain the most from education, they need an optimum environment to learn. This is the minimum that we should be providing to school children. The reality, however, is that an alarming number of schools are not designed with acoustics in mind. Children are missing out on their education, teachers are suffering serious health problems and student/teacher relationships are suffering. Check out this infographic that details some of the more striking figures and statistics around this issue, such as:

• A 10db increase in noise causes an average 5% drop in SATs scores at Key Stage 1,

7% at Key Stage 2

• 34% of parents of deaf or hearing impaired children are concerned that school

acoustics aren’t up to scratch

• 80% of teachers report vocal strain and other throat problems. Compare this with

5% of the general population

Next week I’ll be hosting a Twitter Q&A using the hashtag #AcousticMatters, so if you have a question to ask me and the Ecophon team just comment below or simply tweet using the hashtag.