Impact of room acoustics on perceived vocal fatigue of staff-members in Higher-education learning environments: a pilot study

Although it is demonstrated how vocal fatigue and discomfort of teachers can be correlated to room acoustics properties of teaching environments [1;2] the BB93 English normative (2015) [3] does not provide acoustic requirements for higher-education learning environments. The presented pilot study aims to expand previous research regarding acoustic design criteria for higher education learning environments [4]. A comparative analysis between subjective and objective data collected in two lecture theatres at Solent University suggests how both excessive background noise levels and too low reverberation time values might lead to vocal fatigue issues, confirming the necessity to extend the current UK regulations and include in its scope Higher education learning environments.