House Passes Legislation to Reduce Classroom Noise
A bill has passed in the House of Representatives that, if approved, will reduce exposure to noise in classrooms and improve acoustics, according to a news brief posted by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
The bill (H.R. 3221) focuses primarily on student aid, but it also provides funding for school construction and modernization that would, among other things, address the issue of noise in classrooms.
Combatting noise in the classroom has been a long-term goal of ASHA, and other groups have also taken on the cause. The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) and the Noise Pollution Clearing House have combined to create Quiet Classrooms, an alliance that supports improved classroom acoustics. The alliance's Web site has a pretty lengthy article on the cause and its importance.
Obviously this is good news, but it's still somewhat unclear when change could possibly begin. The bill now moves to the Senate for approval where it joins H.R. 2187, 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act, which also contains provisions to reduce classroom noise. The Senate received that bill in May, read it twice, and then passed it off to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions four months ago, according to http://www.govtrak.us/. If H.R. 3221 takes a similar route, a vote wouldn't occur until next year at the earliest.