Acoustic Comfort of Schools in Tropical Humid Climate
Jolly John1, Asha Latha Thampuran2, B. Premlet3
1Jolly John, Department of Architecture, TKM College of Engineering, Kollam, India.
2Asha Latha Thampuran, Director, Mohandas College of Engineering Trivandrum, India.
3B. Premlet, Department of Physics, TKM College of Engineering, Kollam, India.
Manuscript received on March 06, 2015. | Revised Manuscript received on March 21, 2015. | Manuscript published on April 30, 2015. | PP:13-19 | Volume-4 Issue-4, April 2015. | Retrieval Number: D3820044415/2013©BEIESP
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: This paper reports the investigation on acoustic comfort of school buildings in tropical warm humid climate. In this type of climate the intrusion of external noise into the classrooms along with cross ventilation is unavoidable. Studies have been carried in 30 secondary schools located in Kollam district of Kerala in India. The two important acoustic parameters viz., background noise and reverberation time which affect the acoustical comfort were measured on site, in the school environment and a few selected classrooms in all schools. The measured values were compared to the acoustical recommendations of Bureau of Indian standards. The acoustical study on one of the schools is presented in detail. The study reveals a strong need of improving the acoustical comforts in school environments and classrooms. The study also reveals that a simple treatment to the ceiling and walls could improve the acoustic comfort in classrooms.
Keywords: Acoustic comfort, Background noise, Reverberation, Ambient noise level, Sound insulation, tropical climate.