A review of acoustic design criteria for school infrastructure in Chile

Abstract

Since oral communication is the main means we use to learn, acoustics becomes one of the most important attributes of the architectural design of classrooms. Adverse acoustic conditions in the classroom negatively affect the learning, performance and cognitive development of students. In year 2015 the Ministry of Education introduced acoustic design criteria for learning spaces. This article presents a review of these criteria based on a comparison with international regulations and considering the database of the Santiago’s urban noise map. The results show that the current acoustic criteria for educational settings in Chile present several shortcomings with respect to international standards. It is also observed that more than 70% of educational establishments in Santiago are exposed to environmental noise levels that lie outside the range of application of the criterion