• Enclosed spaces are needed for activities such as whole-class presentations where a relatively low background noise level is essential.
• The needs of the hearing impaired should be considered.

Good acoustics are essential for learning, and adequate sound insulation is necessary for activities such as music. An increase in inclusion, particularly of pupils with hearing and visual impairments, is likely to lead to the adoption of more stringent standards and the needs of community users, especially the elderly, should be considered. For more acoustic guidance, see Building Bulletins 94, 93 and 89.
Speech intelligibility is very important to understanding. For good intelligibility, speech should be at least 10 decibels above background noise level at the listener’s ear (higher if learners have hearing impairments). Presentations and discussions with a group of pupils or

quiet study, obviously need far better sound insulation than more informal individual or group work. For this reason there will always be a need for some enclosed spaces in a school. Open plan areas can be very successful but only for some activities and they rely on a reasonable level of behaviour by occupants to avoid disturbance.
As noisy activities can disturb quiet ones, the location of spaces should be considered at planning stage. The design of the external envelope should limit noise intrusion (problems include traffic and even rain noise).

As noisy activities can disturb quiet ones, the location of such spaces should be carefully considered.