In my spare time I do wordsmithing and copyediting for my husband the engineer: white papers, client proposals, even his bio required when he goes to teach at a conference. He sends me a file with all his knowledge, usually around 1500 words. I send him back his finished paper, usually around 600 words and more easily understood by any layman. Last week I found a white paper particularly compelling-- and it answered for me the age-old urban legend of "students in the front row are better students."
I learned that a dB meter only measures ONE frequency at the spot you are standing with the meter. The dB(A) measurement is a set of readings from all over the room and at every frequency range (or at least, a dozen or so), and then averaged. Did you know that most classrooms are SO noisy with background noise that they are starting at 35-45dB(A)? The rooms with fans running may be 50dB(A). The tile floors with the chairs scraping; kids tapping; the hum of the HVAC.... all of this background noise is lowering the INTELLIGIBILITY of the teacher's voice!
Most people with no reported hearing loss can follow along well with about 70% intelligibility, as their brains can fill in the gaps.
The red-orange-yellow colors represent 90%-80%-70% intelligibility.
So you see in this "typical" classroom, only about 1/16 of the classroom has adequate intelligbility. Most of the kids can only hear about half of what is being said. The kids in the back only hear a few words.
It happens in other places, too. I'm struggling at our church gatherings to hear. I can hear the pastor just fine, because he wears a headset mic, until the A/C kicks on. Then I can't hear unless I'm sitting up in that orange zone (which I never do, because I can't sit still enough to sit in the middle where I'd distract everyone by my moving around). Even sitting up in the green zones above, I can almost never understand more than a word here and there of the other men who use handheld mics, because they don't hold them right.
Were you a "front-seat" scholar? And if your kids go to a brick-and-mortar school, do they sit in the front?
4 comments:
That was interesting, Amy. I always preferred the front and do now ...so I can hear. I have 2 children in B&M school and they vary where they sit by choice or seating chart.
The sound (acoustics) of a room and the dBs are real factors that most of us never even consider.
Very interesting and something I never thought about before (doh, I'm having a V8 moment now). Of course you can hear better in the front, and for a visual learning like me seeing the teacher without the impediment of the other students is critical for my comprehension.
Good article. I always felt a little bit exposed to sit in the front, but now I see why.
I've almost always sat in front, or close to it. When I was younger, it was because the teacher arranged us according to height, and I am short.
Later on, it just became a habit to sit in front. I also like being able to see and hear without distractions. I do the same at church.
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