Evaluation of classroom acoustic descriptors with focus on the accessibility for autistic students in the university context

A distinct trait of autistic individuals is the likely presence of hypo- or hypersensitivity to any sensory input (hearing, touch, smell, taste or sight). Here we focus on auditory hypersensitivity. In classroom acoustics, it is known that the acoustical aspects of indoor spaces affect speech intelligibility and comprehension regardless of a person's neurological characteristics, which are essential in learning spaces. For autistic individuals, high levels of background noise and reverberation may lead to sensory overload. The literature on the impact of room acoustics on autistic persons and specific guidelines for individuals with auditory hypersensitivity are still scarce. To approach the problem, first we conducted a subjective assessment aimed at neurodivergent and neurotypical students at UNICAMP about classrooms from different institutes through an online questionnaire. The first group presented, on average, greater discomfort to common classroom sound stimuli. We also asked which institutes have classrooms with adequate and inadequate acoustics in order to measure three room acoustic descriptors. In this paper, we present the results of the residual noise measurements as well as previously presented results (reverberation time and speech transmission index). Overall, the classrooms do not comply with current standards for the general population.