TeacherTray

Classroom Noise Meter

Put the room’s noise level on the board. Students see the meter climb, it turns red past the line you set, and it can sound an alarm when the room gets too loud.

Not listening
Not listening
Level –Too loud 0 timesQuiet for 0:00

The browser will ask to use the microphone. Nothing is recorded.

Show it as

Too loud at 70

Move the line lower for quiet work, higher for group work. The meter turns yellow at three-quarters of the line and red past it.

When it’s too loud

Only after it stays loud for

A short shout or a dropped book won’t set it off. The alarm sounds at most every 6 seconds.

The short answer

Press Start listening and allow the microphone. Then press Set quiet level while the room is quiet, so the meter knows what quiet sounds like on your microphone. Drag the Too loud line to suit the activity. When the noise stays above the line, the board flashes and the alarm plays.

0–100a relative level, not decibels
2 viewsa meter or a traffic light
Your lineset it for each activity
No recordingsound is measured, never saved

Setting it up

  1. Open the page on the computer that drives the board, and use its microphone or a webcam’s.
  2. Press Start listening. The browser asks for the microphone. If you said no by mistake, click the microphone or lock icon in the address bar to allow it.
  3. Calibrate. With the room quiet, press Set quiet level. After 2 seconds a quiet room reads about 12.
  4. Set the line, go full screen, and teach students what each color means.

What the words mean

Under the meter, the level is named by how far it is toward your line, using the voice levels many classrooms already post:

Part of the way to your lineShowsColor
Under a quarterSilentGreen
A quarter to a halfWhisperGreen
Half to three-quartersPartner voiceGreen
Three-quarters to the lineGroup voiceYellow
Over the lineToo loud!Red

Why it doesn’t show decibels

A sound level meter shows decibels because it is calibrated. Laptop and webcam microphones are not, and many adjust their own volume. The same room can read very differently on two computers. That’s why this meter shows a level from 0 to 100 that you calibrate to your room, and why it turns off the browser’s automatic volume, echo and noise filters while it listens.

For a sense of real sound levels, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association lists a whisper at about 30 dBA, a quiet room at 40, typical conversation at 60 and group conversation at about 70 dBA (ASHA). The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders notes that sounds at or below 70 dBA are unlikely to damage hearing, even with long exposure (NIDCD). A noisy classroom is a problem for listening and learning, not for hearing damage.

Why classroom noise matters

ASHA’s guidance on classroom acoustics says background noise and echo can affect how well students hear speech, their listening comprehension, reading and attention, and that this affects all students, not only those with hearing loss. New schools can be designed to the classroom acoustics standard ANSI/ASA S12.60 (ASHA Practice Portal). A meter on the board can’t fix a room’s acoustics, but it helps students notice and manage the noise they make themselves.

Is the microphone safe to use?

The page measures how loud the sound is many times a second, and then throws the sound away. Nothing is recorded, stored or sent to us or anyone else, and the microphone switches off when you press Stop listening or close the page. Your browser shows a microphone icon in the tab while it’s listening.

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