• Posted May 25, 2025

Quieter Classrooms May Help Calm Kids, Study Shows

SUNDAY, May 25, 2025 (HealthDay News) — The first day of preschool can be tough — lots of new faces, unfamiliar sounds and the sudden goodbye to Mom or Dad can be overwhelming. But what if something as simple as the ceiling could make it a little easier?

New research suggests that reducing noise in preschool classrooms can help calm children and improve their ability to talk and listen.

The study — led by Ikuri Matsuoka, a master’s student at Kumamoto University in Japan — investigated how sound-absorbing ceilings affect young children during indoor activities. 

The findings were shared Friday at a meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in New Orleans.

“Classrooms without any sound absorption are the majority in Japan,” Matsuoka said in a news release.

“My motivation was to make people aware of the importance of acoustics in classrooms because in Japan, there are no standards or guidelines for acoustic design of preschool and school classrooms,” Matsuoka added.

Many preschoolers are still learning how to speak and understand others, so loud or echo-filled rooms can make communication harder. These stressful environments may lead kids to cry more or talk even louder.

To test the impact of sound design, Matsuoka and their team installed a sound-absorbing material called polyester fiberboard on the ceiling of one classroom. They then compared that classroom to another without any soundproofing.

Using video and audio, Matsuoka tracked how loud the children were and how often they cried. After six months, kids in the classroom without soundproofing were noticeably louder. 

Teachers were interviewed four times.

“Three of the four teachers answered that they felt the reverberation had changed," Matusoka said in a news release, "And one of them, a veteran teacher with 25 years of experience, answered that she felt clearly more comfortable talking to the children.”

The study used artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning tools to help track crying without manually watching every video clip.

“From our research, we hope that those involved in both the child care and architectural fields recognize how important it is to have reduced reverberation that mitigate(s) noisy atmosphere and promote(s) clear verbal communication for children," Matusoka said.

Findings presented at meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

Western Governors University has tips for creating environments that promote learning.

SOURCE: Acoustical Society of America, news release, May 16, 2025