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Description
A dataset of 416 reverberation time measurements, collected in rooms of Austrian educational institutions enable a quantitative characterization of current room acoustics in education. 144 classrooms in schools are looked at to assess compliance with national requirements for reverberation time. Occupied conditions are calculated using ÖNORM B 8115‑3 (2023) with a fixed per‑pupil absorption. Results are classified and interpreted according to the building regulation OIB-5 (2023) as compliant, compliant within tolerance (±20% in all octave bands), or non‑compliant. Overall, 27% of all surveyed classrooms meet requirements. Restricting to new/renovated rooms since 2007 (n=97), compliance is at 34%. For the whole classroom dataset (N=144), technical absorption is present in 96 rooms (mostly ceilings), most frequently used materials are stated. Frequent causes of non‑compliance are insufficient effective absorption, over‑absorbing rooms (too short reverberation times), and exceedances of reverberation times at 250 Hz. Limitations include potential selection bias (e.g. measurements followed by complaints), fixed person‑absorption assumptions, and uneven distribution above the nine Austrian states. Findings indicate that roughly one third of Austrian classrooms in this dataset achieve current targets.