The acoustic treatment of a catering room in a school (canteen) meets different needs in terms of sound environment :
- provide students who go there with conditions conducive to having a meal, a restful break in their studious day, children’s discussions
- enable service personnel to have acceptable working conditions
Thus, catering premises in schools (canteens) devoid of sound-absorbing materials of sufficient quality and quantity and/or not allowing the necessary decrease in noise between tables are highly undesirable.
Indeed, the reflections of acoustic waves on hard surfaces (some, it is true, inevitable e.g. floor, glazed surfaces - although some glazing has sound absorption qualities but only at low frequency -), at the base of the phenomenon of reverberation (i.e. the persistence of sounds over time) have various harmful effects in terms of acoustic comfort :
- being unfavorable to the intelligibility of speech and participating in a sound one-upmanship (everyone raising their voice to be heard, which is counter-productive)
- impacting the reverberated component of the acoustic field which is superimposed on the direct acoustic field, thus limiting the spatial sound decay i.e. noise level diminution along distance (which could be observed in an outdoor, unlimited space) and by increasing ambient sound levels
A hubbub then results, in contradiction with the needs mentioned above, the space considered (whether or not it is the subject of recriminations) being unsuitable for its purpose.
Thus, the acoustic treatment of a catering room in a school (canteen) in particular involves installing materials that absorb sound at medium-high frequencies (i.e. in the 1/1 octave bands of central frequency between 500 Hz and 2000 Hz corresponding to the maximum of human noise emissions), according to the technical possibilities in each room and taking into account other imperatives (e.g. in terms of decoration, finance) linked to each project :
- on walls (in the form of acoustic panels)
- under the ceiling or the under-roof (in the form of ceiling tiles or of suspended sound absorbing elements - referred to as baffles -)
- in the form of objects independent of the boundaries of the room e.g. soundproofing screens (claustras) separating groups of tables
ITS participated in the acoustic treatment of a catering room in a school (canteen) in the region of Paris (France) by marketing screens with high sound absorption.
Such soundproofing equipment is preferred in different situations :
- when it is a question of supplementing noise limitation measures already comprising treatment of the walls and of the ceiling or of the under-roof with materials having a sufficiently high sound absorption coefficient (as close as possible to 100% at medium-high frequencies) or when such arrangements are not possible or are not desired by the decision-makers, whatever the reason
- when it is a question (in addition to contributing to the reduction of the reverberation of the room by means of materials absorbing sounds on both sides), of opposing the propagation of noise: by interposing on the paths of acoustic waves obstacles constituted by such acoustic screens
With regard to their filling, the soundproofing screens marketed by ITS have :
- a sound absorption coefficient close to 100% in the 1/1 octave central frequency bands between 500 Hz and 4 KHz (weighted sound absorption index αw = 1.00, sound absorption class A: you cannot do better)
- an A2-s1, d0 classification according to standard EN 13501-1 with regard to reaction to fire (this filling is non-combustible)
- a shade that can be chosen from a color chart with tints all more shimmering than each other (there is something for everyone)
These essential components for the acoustic treatment of a catering room in a school (canteen) - limiting reverberation and noise propagation - are available in the form of standard modules (with different widths and heights), with legs or on casters, which can be linked to form sets of greater length, and possibly with translucent parts.
They adapt to all soundproofing projects to improve acoustic comfort (also in a regulatory context, such as - in France - what is involved by the order of 25 April 2003 relating to noise limitation in educational institutions [1]) and contribute to the embellishment of the spaces under consideration.
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[1] acoustic regulations for noise limitation in educational and training institutions