Acoustic design guidelines for adults with intellectual disability

Abstract

This paper concentrates on the acoustic design aspects of the living rooms in institutions for adults with intellectually disability. In the living rooms for adults with ID there is even a higher stress on the acoustics since they are more dependent on the acoustical environment compared to normal population. Moreover prevalence of hearing impairment among adults with ID is around 30% and in most cases it is not even recognised. Therefore the rooms for adults with ID need to be designed by taking into account the requirements of the hearing impaired. They need more favourable room acoustics to improve their communication and participation. This paper investigates three main themes: 1) Investigation of impact of building design tools on acoustical quality parameters and determination of most appropriate acoustical quality indicator that translates best into architectural practice for living rooms for adults with ID. 2) Investigation of the relation between user satisfaction and absorption amount in rooms for adults with ID by listening tests prepared from auralizations. 3) Development of architectural/acoustical design guidelines to provide optimal absorption amount for living rooms for adults with ID.