Influence of acoustics on learning performance: what happens in a student's brain?
In this blog, we look at the influence of acoustics on learning performance from the perspective of the brain. What happens in a student's mind during a lesson? Why does sound require so much energy? And why do the guidelines of Frisse Scholen emphasise the importance of a good acoustic environment?
Birgit Brinks
When schools work on improving learning outcomes, the focus is often on teaching methods, digitisation, and pedagogy. That makes sense. However, a less visible factor also plays an important role: the acoustic environment. Many people think of acoustics primarily as comfort. But sound has influence on much more than that. It affects how the brain processes information. When students have to put a lot of effort into understanding a teacher or are continually distracted by ambient noise, there is less mental capacity available for learning itself.
Learning begins with listening
Before a student retains knowledge, the brain must first receive and understand information. During a lesson, many things happen simultaneously:
- Listening to the teacher
- Processing information
- Taking notes
- Answering questions
- Connecting new knowledge to existing knowledge
The brain constantly performs all these tasks. This requires attention and energy. When noise disrupts these processes, mental load increases. A quiet learning environment therefore supports not only listening, but also understanding and retaining information.
The brain filters stimuli all day long.
Our hearing is constantly active. Even when we are fully focused, our brains register sounds from the environment. Think of:
- Conversations of other students
- Sliding chairs
- Noise in the corridor
- A ventilation system
- Traffic outside
- Ringing phones
The brain is constantly trying to distinguish between important and less important stimuli. With little background noise, this process runs smoothly. With a lot of sound, the brain has to work harder to select relevant information. As a result, valuable attention is lost.
Why Listening Costs More Energy Than We Think
Many people view listening as a passive activity. In reality, the brain performs a series of complex tasks while listening. A student must:
- Perceive sound
- Recognise words
- Understand sentences
- Assign meaning to information
- Remember information
When words are not immediately clear, the brain attempts to fill in the missing information itself. This requires extra energy. The more frequently this happens, the greater the listening effort. Students often notice this as:
- fatigue
- diminishing concentration
- difficulty following instructions
- losing interest more quickly during longer explanations
The relationship between sound and working memory
Working memory plays an important role during learning. Here, the brain temporarily processes information before it is stored. However, working memory has limited capacity. When a student dedicates a lot of attention to filtering noise, less space remains for processing lesson material. This affects activities such as:
- Reading Comprehension
- Numeracy
- Language Development
- Problem-solving Thinking
- Remembering Instructions
It is precisely with complex tasks that this additional burden becomes apparent.
Why Sound Doesn't Sound the Same to Every Student
Not every pupil processes sound in the same way. While some pupils barely notice a noisy environment, others experience a lot of distraction. This has to do with how the brain processes sound. During listening, the brain uses prior experiences, language skills, and context to understand information. The more experience someone has, the easier it is for the brain to fill in missing information. For young children, that is different. They are still building their vocabulary and language comprehension. When part of the explanation is lost due to background noise, the brain misses important information that is not always easy to fill in. The same often applies to:
- Multilingual learners
- Learners with hearing problems
- Learners with a language delay
- Learners who are sensitive to stimuli
For these groups, listening requires more energy. A quiet learning environment therefore helps them not only to understand what is being said better, but also to process information more quickly and accurately.
What happens to the concentration?
Concentration is not just about maintaining attention. It is also about regaining attention. Every distraction interrupts a thinking process. A student who is just working on a maths problem or reading text must refocus after each distraction. On a busy school day, this effect compounds. As a result, students sometimes experience: more restlessness, a shorter attention span, more mistakes, and less engagement, leading to a decline in learning performance. The problem is therefore not solely in loud noises. Constant background sounds also demand attention from the brain.
An example from the classroom
The influence of sound on learning often remains invisible. Yet, this influence plays a role during almost every school day. Imagine a teacher explaining a new math problem. While the instruction is taking place, some students shift their chairs backwards, and sounds come from the hallway. As a result, a student may miss three or four important words from the explanation. The brain immediately tries to fill in the missing information. This happens in a fraction of a second. The student continues listening but meanwhile uses mental capacity to figure out exactly what was said. As a result, this capacity is not fully available for understanding the new lesson material. When this occurs multiple times a day, mental load increases further. The student often perceives this as fatigue, while the actual cause lies in the extra listening effort.
Why Fresh Schools pay attention to noise
A healthy learning environment consists of more than just good teaching. The physical environment also has an impact on the functioning of students and staff. That's why the Fresh Schools Programme of Requirements addresses various aspects of the indoor environment, including:
- Air Quality
- Temperature
- Lighting
- Sound
According to Frisse Scholen, these factors collectively contribute to a healthy, comfortable, and well-functioning learning environment. The relationship between indoor climate, learning performance, and well-being also receives explicit attention. When it comes to sound, Frisse Scholen particularly considers room acoustics, installation noise, sound insulation, and speech intelligibility. These guidelines help schools create a learning environment in which pupils and teachers can work comfortably. This approach aligns with what we now know about how the brain works. The less energy pupils spend on listening, the more attention remains available for learning.
A strong learning environment requires more than just good teaching methods. The space also plays an important role. Read more about acoustics in education improvement and discover which factors contribute to more calm, focus and intelligibility.
How can you tell that sound affects learning outcomes?
Many schools mainly associate acoustic problems with reverberation. Consequently, the impact on learning performance can sometimes be less visible. Signals that may indicate increased listening effort include:
- Students often ask for repetition
- Teachers often speak louder
- Instructions are not fully conveyed
- Concentration quickly diminishes
- Students become tired more quickly
- A lot of restlessness occurs during whole-class explanations
These signals do not directly indicate the quality of education. However, they sometimes point to a learning environment where listening requires a lot of energy. Do you recognise several of these signals in the classroom? Read more about improving acoustics at school and discover the role the learning environment plays in concentration, calmness, and speech intelligibility.
Sound and stress: a often overlooked relationship
Sound not only affects cognitive performance. An environment with a lot of auditory stimuli keeps the brain continuously alert. As a result, some students experience more tension and restlessness. A quiet learning environment contributes to greater comfort, less mental fatigue, a better sense of control, and more calm during instruction moments. This makes learning more enjoyable and effective.
The Influence of Acoustics on Learning Performance: The Conclusion
When we talk about learning performance, we often think of teaching methods, motivation, and didactic skills. Yet, the environment also plays an important role. The influence of acoustics on learning performance begins in the brain. Every day, students filter hundreds of sounds while simultaneously trying to understand and remember new information. That process requires mental energy. The more effort needed to filter sounds and understand speech, the less capacity remains for learning. Therefore, a good acoustic environment is not only about comfort but also about attention, memory, and information retention. Ultimately, peace in the space also brings more calm to the brain. And that is precisely where effective learning begins. At EASY Noise Control, we see acoustics as a part of a healthy learning environment. Just like light, ventilation, and temperature, a pleasant sound environment supports the wellbeing and functioning of students.
