According to the State Office for Health and Social Affairs, it is too loud in many crèches, kindergartens and after-school care centers in the north-east. According to the authority (Lagus), around 80 percent of all group rooms in day-care centers in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are in need of room-acoustic renovation.
Too high a noise level is a serious problem. A guide to acoustics in day-care centers presented on Friday states that noise stresses and exhausts children and caregivers. The consequences could be nervousness, increased aggressiveness, lack of motivation and reduced willingness to help. The office recommends checking every common room and, if necessary, acoustically renovating it. However, there is currently no legal obligation to do so.
In the guidelines, which they published on the Internet, the acoustics experts provide tips for planning new day-care centers as well as measures that are easy to implement in existing rooms. There should only be so many children in a room that each has at least 2.5 square meters of space. A carpet swallows up high noise frequencies, closed cupboards made of solid panels mainly work in the lower frequency range.
Open shelves filled with toys caused more scattering of the sound waves and absorbed in the high to mid frequency range. Shelves full of books therefore have an effect across most frequencies. Chairs with fabric covers are sound-absorbing, smooth wooden chairs are not.
“The structural conditions are important prerequisites for good acoustics and for less noise pollution for the users,” explained the experts. “High-quality education and care can only succeed in suitable rooms.” The intelligibility of speech deteriorates when it is too loud or echoes. This can lead to communication problems and impair the children’s language and cognitive development.
Guide to acoustics in day-care centers
