| dc.description.abstract | The Americans With Disabilities Act is a civil rights law prohibiting discrimination against persons with disabilities, ensuring equal opportunity for usage and accessibility to public and governmental buildings and facilities. In 1997, a petition was sent to the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, a federal agency responsible for issuing Americans With Disabilities Act guidelines, alleging that poor classroom acoustics constituted an architectural barrier to students receiving an education. Several organizations mainly in the acoustics industry supported this petition.
In 1998, the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board issued a Request for Information with intent to receive public input on the matter. A working group made of mostly members of the Acoustical Society of America was formed in 2000, and, under the auspices of the American National Standards Institute, produced Acoustical Performance Criteria, Design Requirements, and Guidelines for Schools, a set of norms for good acoustics in classrooms. The standards are voluntary, but many states, municipalities, and education boards have adopted them, either fully or in part, with the result that the design team is now responsible for good classroom acoustics in new and renovated school construction. | |
