Noise Pollution Challenges in University Classrooms: An Empirical Analysis of Acoustic Performance Standards

This work analyzes and studies the characteristics of three enclosures on a university Campus, which present similar challenges in terms of noise pollution. To carry out an empirical and objective assessment on their acoustic performance, current regulations, and standards, are being used. Theoretical calculations are considered to calculate reverberation time parameters. In order to calculate reverberation time by using the Sabine formula, it is necessary to measure the classrooms, together with the specification of the surface occupied by each of the materials that make up the walls in the rooms under study, resulting in a T60 of between 3.6 s to 6.2 s for classrooms 11 and 12, and between 4.1 s to 7.1 s for classroom 15. To obtain the parameters that define the acoustic capacities of reverberation of the rooms, the guidelines for both measurement and calculation conditions specified in the regulations are followed. Graphical representation and mathematical calculation software are used to achieve the desired results, obtaining a T60 of between 1.8 s to 2.2 s for classroom 11, 2.0 s to 3.0 s for classroom 12, and 1.7 s to 2.7 s for classroom 15. Once the acoustic conditions of the reverberation of the room are defined, it is concluded that none of the rooms has the proper characteristics to carry out the best teaching activities in them, since they exceed the recommended 0.7 s of reverberation time, since they hinder the understanding of speech and the clarity of the word. As a conclusion, the study has served as an analysis of a challenging task in the Miguelete Campus of the Universidad Nacional de San Martin, always based on parameters commonly used in the world of acoustic pollution, both scientifically and legislatively.