Too many children accept noise as the natural background to their activities at home, in daycare or in public places. The classroom should provide a model for an environment that facilitates communication for all children regardless of their backgrounds or handicaps. Two important characteristics of an acoustically optimized classroom are a low background noise level and a low reverberation time. Reverberation is the multiple reflections of sounds within a room that can prolong and distort the original sound components. Speech intelligibility is compromised when a soft vocal element is masked by the reflected sound of a preceding louder element.
Reverberation also has the effect of amplifying background noises.
Sound absorption also helps to reduce background noise levels and, by improving speech intelligibility, reduces the need for raised voices. The first step should be an acoustical survey to measure background levels, noise isolation and the reverberation characteristics of the room. Seals on doors and windows can reduce noise from outside. Noisy individual heating units will need to be serviced, upgraded or replaced with a forced air central heating system. Before children can make any sense of the alphabetic principle, they must understand that those sounds that are paired with the letters are one and the same as the sounds of speech.