What is the connection between today’s teaching techniques and reverberation?
Reverberation, the reflection of sound waves off of hard surfaces, is a very common acoustic problem in older school buildings. In days gone by, when these buildings were constructed, students were expected to come in, sit down, and not speak unless spoken to. However today’s teaching techniques encourage group participation, discussion, and hands-on activities. Students are less likely to spend the day sitting silently, writing in workbooks, and more likely to be talking with their peers, moving from group to group, doing experiments, and working on computers. All of these activities can make the classroom a very noisy place, especially if the noise produced bounces around without being absorbed. In order for the students to hear and understand what is being said, the teacher’s voice must stand out above any background noise produced by the activity. The louder the activity, the louder the teacher is required to speak. In the classroom, the activity noise and the teacher’s voice are r
