APPLICATION OF THE ANALYTIC HIERARCHY PROCESS (AHP) FOR ACOUSTIC ADAPTATION OF CLASSROOMS

In the paper we put forward a proposition of acoustic adaptation of classrooms based on the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The main objective of such an adaptation is to increase speech intelligibility aiming to enhance the teaching quality level. The model is based on four main criteria which have impact both on the teaching process and on the adaptation costs. The said criteria comprise reverberation time, speech transmission index STI, financial cost of the adaptation and non-economic costs. The priorities and significance of the main criteria are identified by way of measureable calculations involving reverberation time, STI, costs and expertise, intangible, non-economic cost estimations. The AHP analysis should be viewed as a framework facilitating decision making processes applied in scientific or engineering analyses. The paper demonstrates the acoustic adaptation method of classrooms in terms of acoustic parameters and implementation costs of such an adaptation. The AHP analysis can help architects and classroom users adopt a more rational approach to further optimization and work out a definite building process which could provide a platform to compare different alternatives on a common and comprehensive basis.