Acoustic safety in gymnasiums for teachers must improve

Bosan and Vilton are teaming up to fight deafness among sports teachers and trainers. The specialists in sports hall design and acoustics are making noise reduction an integral part of safety in gymnasiums and sports halls. Deafness can be prevented by measuring acoustic performance of gymnasiums and installing adequate acoustic wall panels if necessary.

To ratify the cooperation, Bosan's general manager Walter van den Brink and Alexander de Vries, Vilton's commercial director, signed the cooperation agreement.

Acoustic safety

From now on, Bosan will make acoustic measurement a standard part of the thousands of annual safety checks the company performs in sports halls. Van den Brink explains why: "Safety in sports halls is a priority for everyone. But when it comes to acoustic safety, there are still many areas for improvement. An issue such as deafness in sports teachers as a result of their work can easily be prevented. That's why we are now working with Vilton, specialists in acoustic solutions." This limited measurement, which is recorded in the safety report, gives recipients an initial picture of the acoustic performance of the gymnasium.

Measuring reverberation time

"A long reverberation time causes hearing damage to gym teachers, but also causes fatigue, poor speech intelligibility and voice problems. The union for physical education teachers (KVLO) has therefore drawn up guidelines with reverberation times for gymnasiums of various sizes," says De Vries. Vilton can, on request, measure the reverberation time precisely with a more extensive measurement than in the Bosan report. And indicate what interventions are needed for the hall to meet the KVLO acoustic guidelines. Vilton Softsonic acoustic wall panels are available in dozens of colors, are sustainably made from recycled PET bottles, meet all requirements, are ball-proof and high quality in terms of sound absorption.

Example of a gymnasium equipped with colorful acoustic wall panels from Vilton

Deafness not a risk of the trade

"We have listened carefully to the concerns of sports teachers and, thanks to the cooperation between Bosan and Vilton, offer a high-quality solution to provide this acoustic safety," Van den Brink summarizes. "Deafness and voice problems are not acceptable risks of the profession. A safe gymnasium has good acoustics, otherwise it is not a safe working environment that school boards and municipalities should offer to sports teachers," De Vries emphasizes.

About Vilton

Vilton supports its construction partners on projects in the building, infrastructure and concrete sectors from start to finish. We provide the knowledge, solutions, product systems and services to make construction projects run optimally. Everything for an optimal construction process and satisfied users. As a construction partner, Vilton primarily provides products and services in five categories: Sealing, Formwork, Dilatation, Laying and Acoustics.

Silent Building is Vilton's acoustics concept where buildings can be acoustically optimized with a wide range of high-quality solutions with guaranteed results.

About Bosan

Bosan helps teachers in physical education and trainers of (top) sports clubs in practicing their profession and passion: getting students and athletes to move. We develop and produce sports installations and equipment with great attention to innovation and development in order to improve multifunctionality, safety and ease of use for users. Finally, we advise clients on the design and furnishing of new or renovated sports or gymnasiums and take care of the entire furnishing process. Bosan equipment is already in more than 2,500 gymnasiums and sports halls at home and abroad.