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ANSI SETS THE BAR FOR SCHOOL AND CLASSROOM ACOUSTIC LEVELS

Acoustics professionals, builders, and school administrators can now work toward a common goal. ANSI Standard S 12.60-2002 (American National Standard Acoustical Performance Criteria, Design Requirements, and Guidelines for Schools) recommends classroom acoustics criterion for the first time in the history of the organization.

Compliance may be responsibility of design teams
Acoustics professionals, builders, and school administrators can now work toward a common goal. ANSI Standard S 12.60-2002 (American National Standard Acoustical Performance Criteria, Design Requirements, and Guidelines for Schools) recommends classroom acoustics criterion for the first time in the history of the organization.

Consistent with long-standing recommendations for good practice in acoustical design, the standard recommends maximum background noise at 35 decibels and reverberation at 0.6 to 0.7 for unoccupied classrooms.

A three-year partnership between the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) and the U.S. Access Board, an independent federal agency devoted to accessibility for people with disabilities, recognized the growing necessity of acoustic control in the classroom. With the Access Board's sponsorship, ASA formed a working group of acoustical and educational professionals to research and develop a standard for classroom acoustics.

As with all ANSI standards, compliance is only voluntary unless specified by a code, ordinance, or regulation. In the future, design teams may be responsible for complying with the standard if school systems require it in their construction documents.

Taking compliance one step further, the Access Board submitted the standard to the International Building Code (IBC) General Committee for possible inclusion in building codes, thus making the standard mandatory. Organizations within the committee, including the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI), Modular Building Institute, and Association of Building Managers opposed the classroom code change. They claimed complying with the standard would significantly increase new construction and renovation costs, particularly for HVAC-related noise control.

Despite the setback from the IBC General Committee, the Access Board confidently brought the proposal before the International Code Council (ICC) for inclusion in the 2003 International Building Code. If adopted, the standard establish design-to-achieve levels based on the ANSI standard and would be included in the design requirements of the model building codes in the next edition of the International Code Council. Classroom acoustics standards would become mandatory as part of the building code in those states and jurisdictions that use the IBC or its member codes. This recommendation is currently under consideration.

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