Classroom acoustics affect student achievement: Classroom mechanical systems should be designed with lower noise levels to optimize student reading comprehension.

Researchers conducted a study to demonstrate that classroom mechanical systems needed to be designed with lower noise levels to optimize student reading comprehension. The study was conducted in 58 elementary school classrooms in the Council Bluffs Community School District in Council Bluffs, Iowa, US, to reveal these findings. Acoustical measurements, including BNL and RT, were gathered in the unoccupied classrooms between April and June 2009 for detailed investigations. The Iowa Test of Basic Skills, including reading comprehension and math subject areas, was administered to the students in the surveyed classrooms during April 2009. The results showed that the percentage of proficient students averaged per grade level per school. Correlation and regression analyses were performed on the data to determine relationships that existed between the acoustics variables and the standardized student achievement scores.