Lecture Auditorium Noise Investigation and Mitigation Case Study

An existing lecture auditorium at the University of Denver is located vertically between a historic campus boiler plant and new campus data center. The auditorium was experiencing high noise levels causing speech intelligibility problems for students and resulting in many complaints. A series of noise measurements in the auditorium and surrounding spaces were conducted to investigate the sources of noise problems. Based on the results, analyses were conducted and renovations were made to the auditorium in an attempt to reduce noise levels, and reception to the new space was positive. Follow-up measurements were conducted to quantify the success of the changes.