Assessing Noise Levels in University of Sharjah Classrooms using Measurements and Predictive Models

High noise levels in university classrooms has been identified to have negative effects on students' learning experience. At the University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE), a number of classrooms are currently used, which differ in dimensions, acoustical attributes, occupancy, furniture and fixtures. To accurately assess noise levels at various classrooms at the University of Sharjah, noise level meters were used to measure noise attributes in 4 different types of classrooms under various conditions including number of occupants, furniture, and classroom geometry and acoustical attributes, i.e. reflective vs. absorptive. The acoustic parameters investigated in this study include reverberation time, speech transmission index, STI, equivalent sound level of the activity and background noise levels. Noise levels were measured when the classroom is empty and during various lectures activities. The results were compared to those from theoretical models developed using multi-variable linear-regression techniques and data previously measured in university classrooms. Other classical statistical theoretical models, and hybrid ray-based model were also used to validate our measurements. The results reveal that models agree with the data with a maximum of 12% differences. The details of the comparative results as well as recommendations will be presented in light of international standards and established limits.