Acoustic comfort in high-school classrooms for students and teachers

This work focuses on the evaluation of acoustical quality in high-school classrooms through in-field measurements and self-reports. Two school buildings that differ in location and typology, were considered. In-field measurements included sound insulation, room acoustics and intelligibility indices in unoccupied and simulated occupied conditions. Teacher's vocal load was monitored over several working days through the Voice Care device and was related to the correspondent background noise and room acoustics. Teachers subjective perception investigated noise disturbance, vocal effort and status after each monitoring. The receiver operating curve was implemented to assess agreement between in-field measurements and self-reports for teachers. The association between objective parameters was assessed with linear regression analysis