Sound quality in small music classrooms

Abstract

Good conditions for teaching, learning and practicing a musical instrument are crucial for a musicians progress. Small rooms for teaching and practicing musical instruments have specific requirements about acoustic performance and strong influence on the perception of the users. Acoustical problems in music classrooms may cause difficulties for teachers to identify mistakes from the young students performance other than those originated from the room itself. For this paper, three music classrooms were evaluated according to reverberation, background noise and airborne sound insulation between rooms. Thus, reverberation time (RT), background noise level and standardized level difference (DnT), as a function of frequency and according to ISO 3382-2:2008 and ISO 140-4:1998 standards, were measured and judged. As some results have disagreed from literature recommendations, the main faults of each room were highlighted, considering the type of instrument that is taught, and suggestions for acoustic adjustment were made. © 2013 Acoustical Society of America.