Acoustics can have a profound impact on our lives, even if we aren’t aware of it. Poor acoustics have a devastating impact on teachers. Constantly competing with background noise can lead to hoarseness and fatigue. Migraines, headaches, and even an early retirement.
Education Concept Designers at acoustic specialists have found that teachers often retire too early and older female educators notice that their voices are deeper than those of their non-teaching counterparts. This is because their vocal chords have been overstressed. For help from an Education Architect, visit https://www.quattrodesign.co.uk/sectors/school-education-architects
Voice Care UK statistics show that teachers have an eight-fold higher risk of voice-related illnesses than any other profession. There’s also an economic cost – a survey by the Royal National Institute for the Deaf found that schools pay out around £15 million per year.
A challenging industry
This is on top of a challenging environment. According to a study by the charity Educational Support, teachers are more stressed than ever. The shocking statistic is that 74% of teachers have suffered from behavioural, mental or physical symptoms as a result of their job. 52% even considered quitting the profession due to the stress on their health. Burnout is rampant and COVID-19 certainly hasn’t helped.
It is essential to have good speech clarity, especially for primary school children, teachers should speak 15 to 20 decibels higher than the background noise. If you are teaching in a loud classroom, or if there is traffic noise coming from an old sash window, then you will need to raise your voice significantly to reach the 15-20 decibel mark. If you raise your voice 10 decibels over a normal conversational level and do that for 3 or 4 hours, you will be hoarse.
