IMPACT OF THE USE OF CURTAINS ON THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF CENTRAL TIME IN BRAZILIAN CLASSROOMS

Abstract

There are several acoustic descriptors applied to assess the acoustic quality of spaces, and some of them generally receive more attention when the understanding the spoken message is fundamental. In existing Brazilian schools, the use of curtains is a low cost mechanism generally used for solar protection, but their use could correct values of acoustic descriptors by bringing these parameters to acceptable ranges. The present research paper is focused on the spatial distribution of the central time parameter in classrooms with open and closed curtains. The tool used to estimate the sound behaviour was computational simulation. The classroom models were adjusted using central time measured in the simulated rooms. For the classrooms, two configurations of closed windows were studied: open and closed curtains. For this research, the effect of opening the curtain was variable depending on the frequency, but for all the cases, lower values of central time were obtained with the closing of the curtains. Hence, central time is a parameter that responds to the designer's interventions, since by working with sound absorption, the designer is able to adjust this parameter.