Ergonomics and acoustics in music education

Abstract

In music education, teachers and students often complain about acoustical discomfort. The facilities dedicated to study and musical training play an important role in risk assessment and have to respect standards on architectural acoustics. In particular, bad sound insulation of the classrooms, sound level emitted by musical and/or vocal instruments, high level of background noise and an unsuitable reverberation time, can compromise learning and performances and could cause pathologies (especially to auditory system and vocal apparatus) due to excessive noise levels and acoustical discomfort. The work aims to estimate the potential risk for music teachers and students in an Italian conservatory, identifying critical issues by collecting objective and subjective information. Measurement campaigns, medical evaluations, questionnaires have been performed to identify critical issues related to ergonomic discomfort. 129 workers were examined. The measurement campaign has detected that insulation values and reverberation times were often not adequate for the purpose of the classrooms. Moreover, the social survey has pointed out a high discomfort both among teachers and students The analysis of the singers’ voices in relation to the posture has allowed to identify possible solutions to remedy the pathologies related to the relationship between vocal effort and posture.