Acoustic conditions in innovative learning environments

New generation or innovative learning environments are being developed in many OECD coun-tries, including Australia and New Zealand. These spaces are often criticized as being 'noisy', dis-tracting, unattenable, and yet, there has been a link between deep learning outcomes and the new generation environments. Education spaces primarily revolve around speaking and listening activities. Although new space typologies have been, and continue to be, developed, the acoustic standards applied to them are often the same as those applied to traditional cellular classroom spaces. This paper presents the results of systematic acoustic testing undertaken within numerous physical spaces for traditional and new generation learning environments in Australia and New Zealand, to compare the differences in performance between traditional cellular classrooms and open plan spaces, and summarise any trends evident in the information. It also acknowledges the differences between traditional cellular spaces and new generation environments as determined from the results.