Children's ability to understand speech in the classroom is directly affected by the room's acoustic quality. A classroom with a reverberation time above 0.8 seconds makes following a teacher's voice effortful — consonants blur, sentences run together, and children at the back of the room struggle to hear what children near the front can follow clearly. This is especially pronounced for children with hearing loss, speech and language difficulties, or for English as an Additional Language learners. The acoustic environment of a classroom is not a peripheral concern — it directly affects educational outcomes.
BB93 (Building Bulletin 93, the UK standard for school acoustics) sets target reverberation times for different classroom types: 0.4–0.6 seconds for primary classrooms, up to 0.8 seconds for secondary. Many existing school buildings — particularly older buildings with hard surfaces throughout — significantly exceed these targets. Acoustic treatment is the practical solution for bringing existing spaces into line.
Products we'd recommend for schools and nurseries
- Ceiling Tiles — the priority surface in most classrooms. Ceiling-mounted treatment addresses the largest reflective surface directly above the teaching area and can dramatically reduce reverberation time without affecting wall space used for displays, whiteboards, or equipment. Products are available in standard ceiling grid formats.
- Absorption Panels — for classrooms where the ceiling alone cannot achieve the target RT, upper-wall panels provide additional absorption. Fabric-wrapped panels in appropriate heights (above 2m where possible, to avoid contact) add significant absorption area to the room.
- Acoustic Carpets — in nurseries and early-years settings where hard floors are used for play and activity areas, acoustic carpet in the quiet and group-work zones provides absorption without affecting the practical use of the space.
What to expect
- Reverberation time reductions to within BB93 target ranges (0.4–0.8 seconds for most classroom types) are routinely achievable with ceiling treatment alone in standard classroom sizes
- Teachers report less vocal strain — a high-reverb classroom requires teachers to raise their voices and project more forcefully to be understood, which causes fatigue over a school day
- Children with hearing aids and cochlear implants, and children with speech and language difficulties, benefit disproportionately from acoustic improvement — they are more dependent on direct sound quality than typical listeners
Acoustic Improvement for Your School?
Tell us about the room or rooms you need to treat — dimensions, ceiling height, current surfaces — and we'll advise on what treatment is needed to meet BB93 targets.
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