The effects of occupancy on acoustical conditions of university classrooms

In the present study, the effects of occupancy on acoustical conditions of 12 university classrooms were experimentally investigated. First, the effects of the added sound absorption by the occupants were compared in two different groups of classrooms (6 reflective classrooms and 6 absorptive classrooms). Second, the details of how the addition of occupants influenced the values of a number of room acoustics parameters measured in the classrooms were examined. Next, the incremental changes to the values of a number of room acoustics parameters due to adding occupants to the two different groups of classrooms were compared. Finally, the application of the present results to the acoustical design of a classroom is discussed.