National Hearing Conservation Association
35th Annual Conference, Orlando, Florida
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Neil Snyder
Director of Federal Advocacy, ASHA
History of Classroom Acoustics
30,000-24,000 B.C.E
35,000 BCE: Poor acoustics in
caves leads to limited brain
development in Neanderthal
Offspring. Species dies out
and replaced by Homo
sapiens.
The Civil Rights of Acoustics
 July 2, 1964, The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (P.L.
88-352) is signed in to law by President
Lyndon Johnson
 1975, the Education for All Handicapped
Children Act is passed in to law
 On July 26th, 1990, President George H.W.
Bush signs the Americans with Disabilities Act
of 1990 (ADA)(P.L. 101-336) in to law
Recent History
 In 1998, the U.S. Access Board joins with the
Acoustical Society of America (ASA) to support
the development of a national classroom acoustics
standard. Stakeholders from both public and
private sectors were involved
 2002, ASA/ANSI working group completes work
and publishes, “S12.60-2002, Acoustical
Performance Criteria, Design Requirements and
Guidelines for Schools”
The Fire For National Standards
Begins Again
 July 12, 2007, Congressman Ben Chandler
introduces H.R. 3021, the 21st Century Green High-
Performing Public School Facilities Act
 It requires the Secretary of Education to make
grants to states for the modernization, renovation,
or repair of public schools, including public
charter schools, to make them safe, healthy, highperforming, and technologically up-to-date
21st Century Green High-Performing
Public School Facilities Act
 May 8, 2008, House Education and Labor Committee




passes H.R. 3021
May, 2008, ASHA member notifies ASHA’s Government
Relations and Public Policy unit that H.R.3021 does not
reference noise, sound, or acoustics when identifying
environmental concerns facing students and educators
June 4, 2008, U.S. House of Representatives passes
H.R.3021
August 1, 2008, Senate receives H.R.3021, does not act on
bill
November 21, 2008, U.S. Access Board convenes a
“stakeholders roundtable” to, “explore ways of improving
acoustics in classrooms.” ASHA staff attends
President Barack Obama
February 4, 2009, During the signing ceremony on a law
expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance
Program (SCHIP) President Barak Obama stated that:
“No child in America should be receiving her primary care in
the emergency room in the middle of the night. No child
should be falling behind at school because he can’t
hear the teacher or see the blackboard. I refuse to
accept that millions of our kids fail to reach their full
potential because we fail to meet their basic needs. In a
decent society, there are certain obligations that are not
subject to tradeoffs or negotiation – health care for our
children is one of those obligations.”
th
111
Congress,
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1
Session
 April 30, 2009, Congressman Chandler re-introduces
the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School
Facilities Act, now numbered H.R.2187
 ASHA advocates for and gains the inclusion of “noise”
in the new bill. H.R.2187, if passed in to law, would
provide grants to states and local school districts to,
among other things, take, “measures designed to
reduce or eliminate human exposure to classroom
noise and environmental noise pollution”
House Consideration of H.R.2187
May 11-14, 2009 House Education and Labor
then full U.S. House of Representatives
considers and passes H.R.2187.
Sends bill to Senate.
ASHA’s Advocacy
ASHA asks for and gets language included in the
narrative report on H.R.2187 that elaborates
upon the noise provision by stating that:
“The Committee encourages school districts that undertake
projects to reduce or eliminate human exposure to classroom
noise and environmental noise pollution, and the Secretary,
in providing technical assistance concerning reducing
background noise and reverberation in classrooms, to
consider the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
approved Standard S12.60- 2002, [Acoustical Performance
Criteria, Design Requirements, and Guidelines for School].”
ASHA Brings Some Noise to Capitol Hill
May 15, 2009, ASHA sponsors congressional briefing
on Capitol Hill regarding classroom noise and
acoustics.
Things Get Strange on Capitol Hill
“If you love the law and you
love good sausage, don’t
watch either of them being
made.”
-Betty Talmadge,
The Reader, November 25,
1977
School Construction + Student Aid=
Health Care Reform?
 July 15, 2009, Congressman George Miller, Chairman of
the House Education and Labor Committee introduces
H.R.3221, a bill focused upon reorganizing federal
student aid programs and incorporates the text of
H.R.2187, the Green Schools bill
 Congressional leaders also designate H.R.3221 as a
potential “budget reconciliation” vehicle which would be
used to ram health care reform legislation through the
Senate
 September 17, 2009, House passes H.R.3221
 September 22, 2009, Senate receives H.R3221, no further
action
Revising the ANSI Standard
(A Run at the U.S. Building Code)
September 30, 2009, The U.S. Access Board,
Acoustical Society of America, the American
National Standards Institute have the first meeting
of the reconstituted working group “S12/WG52” to
reaffirm the redrafted S.12.60-2002 so that it can be
submitted to the International Code Council in
May, 2010.
Revised Standard Not Ready
for Prime Time
 November 11, 2009, The U.S. Access Board proposes an
amendment to the International Building Code
requiring school buildings to meet the standards
defined in S.12.60-2002
 The Access Board then requests that the Code Council
“disapproves” of the code change since the process to
revise the standard in not complete
 This preserves the Board’s ability to re-submit the code
change during the Code Council’s subsequent meeting
in Dallas, Texas, in May of 2010
What You Can Do: Nationally
 Advocate to Congress for the inclusion of funds
to address noisy classrooms in any school
construction legislation
 Track the International Code Council meeting
and/or register to testify at their May, 2010,
meeting.
 Build or join a network, such as the Classroom
Noise & Acoustics Coalition, on Facebook
What You Can Do Within Your State
 Advocate for your state to adopt the ANSI
standard for their school construction
policies
 Identify your state’s school construction
policies and building codes
 Contact the code inspectors association or
society
What You Can Do Locally
 Meet with your school district, determine
their noise and construction policies, react
accordingly
 Meet with the local PTA or similar
organization. They often support efforts to
amplify classrooms. Educate them about
the determents of amplification before
reducing background noise and
reverberation
Contact Information
Neil Snyder
Director of Federal Advocacy
444 North Capitol Street, N.W.
Suite 715
Washington, D.C. 20001
(202) 624-7750
nsnyder@asha.org
Useful Web Resources
 ASHA’s Classroom Acoustics Page:
http://www.asha.org/public/hearing/classroom.htm
 U.S. Access Board
http://www.access-board.gov/acoustic/
 Classroom Noise and Acoustics Coalition (Facebook)
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/ClassroomNoise-and-Acoustics-Coalition/229124785960?ref=ts
 International Code Council
http://www.iccsafe.org/Pages/default.aspx