scope:

Part 4 of ANSI/ASA S12.60 is applicable to physical education teaching environments including gymnasia, natatoria, and outdoor covered and outside learning spaces of any volume. Annex A provides testing procedures when optional tests are performed to determine conformance with the source background noise requirements and reverberation time requirements of this standard. Annex B provides commentary information on various paragraphs of this standard. Annex C provides guidelines for controlling reverberation in gymnasia and other physical education learning spaces. Annex D provides guidelines for controlling background noise in gymnasia and other physical education spaces.

Acoustical performance criteria are specified in this standard by limits on the greatest one-hour average A-weighted and C-weighted background noise levels and by limits on the reverberation time when students are expected to be present.

The control of background noise levels in this standard is achieved primarily by limiting the noise generated by heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems.

This standard applies to siting and building-design-dependent sources of intrusive noise in physical education learning spaces in schools, including noise produced by HVAC systems; building services and utilities; and exterior sound sources such as vehicular traffic, aircraft overflights, or other noise sources. This standard applies to the design and performance of unoccupied spaces and does not apply to sound generated within a physical education learning space by its occupants including voices and the sounds of sport equipment such volleyball and basketball.