About the Institute - Institute for Educational Comfort (IKE)
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szkoly@ike.edu.pl +48 533 424 830

Institute

The Institute for Educational Comfort works on the quality of the sound environment in schools and on what it means for learning, work, health and the everyday functioning of children and teachers. We bring together knowledge from acoustics, education and health with the practice of educational institutions.

News

Education programmesapplications open until 30 September 2026

Schools can now apply to the Noise Fighters programme

The Institute is accepting applications from schools interested in taking part in a free education programme on the sound environment. Classes run in grades 1-3 during the 2026/2027 school year.

The school bears no costs and does not need to prepare any materials - the facilitator comes to the school with a ready-made set.

What is Noise Fighters?

An education programme run by the Institute for children and schools. During the sessions children learn what noise is, how it affects the body and attention, and how to recognise situations where there is too much sound. The programme also teaches simple ways of reacting and of caring for the sound conditions in the classroom. The sessions are led by Hush Hero, who helps explain these topics in language suited to the pupils’ age.

Who is the programme for?

The programme is aimed at schools interested in teaching children about the sound environment and about responding to noise consciously. Classes run in grades 1-3.

What does taking part involve?

The sessions take place on site, at the school. The facilitator brings the presentation, the materials and the programme’s characters, and the teacher receives guidance for further work with the class.

  • a presentation and a session plan,
  • engaging activities for pupils,
  • games, tasks and colouring sheets,
  • guidance for teachers.

What the school receives

  • the session itself, delivered by our facilitator,
  • teaching materials for pupils,
  • soft toys and small items featuring the programme’s characters,
  • materials for teachers to use after the session.

The programme is free of charge for the schools selected.

How to apply

Just send us a message with your school’s details and the number of classes interested in taking part. We will get in touch and arrange a date.

Apply your school →

A full description of the programme is on the Noise Fighters → page

The Institute’s role

IKE brings together knowledge from acoustics, education, health and child development to help people better understand the sound environment of schools. The four areas below describe the scope of the Institute’s work.

Research and knowledge

We analyse scientific publications, reports, standards and guidance on noise, acoustics and the functioning of children and teachers.

We translate research findings into language that is clear to people outside academia as well.

The school environment

We treat acoustics as more than a technical issue. What interests us is what it means for:

  • communication,
  • learning,
  • teachers’ work,
  • wellbeing,
  • educational accessibility.

Practical solutions

We connect scientific knowledge with measures that schools can actually use. This covers, among other things:

  • measurement,
  • analysis of conditions,
  • recommendations,
  • teaching materials,
  • organisational measures.

Education

We create materials for schools, teachers, parents and children.

The aim is to raise awareness of what a good sound environment is and how it can be looked after.

The school environment in everyday working conditions - illustrative material.

What our work is based on

Assessing the acoustic conditions of a school requires several independent sources of information. We use four.

Scientific research

We draw on peer-reviewed publications, systematic reviews and studies carried out in schools and other educational settings.

Standards and guidance

We take account of technical documents and official guidance on acoustic conditions.

Measurement and data

Where a problem calls for technical assessment, what counts is objective measurement carried out with an appropriate method.

The experience of users

Measurements do not show the whole picture. The experiences of pupils, teachers and everyone else using the school’s spaces matter too.

None of these elements should be analysed in complete isolation from the others.

How we work

01

Identifying the problem

First it has to be established what the difficulty really concerns: noise, reverberation, communication, sound insulation, the organisation of space, or several factors at once.

02

Gathering knowledge and data

Depending on the problem this may mean research, standards, measurements, observations and information from the people who use the space.

03

Analysis

We do not reduce a problem to a single number or a single opinion. We set technical data against the experience of pupils and teachers.

04

Recommendations

Conclusions should answer the problem that has actually been identified, not a ready-made solution chosen in advance.

05

Checking the outcome

If a larger change has been made, it is worth checking whether it really improved conditions.

Analysis of materials and data on acoustic conditions.

Areas of activity

School acoustics

  • sound environment
  • reverberation
  • speech intelligibility
  • background noise
  • sound insulation
  • measurement
See the solutions →

Knowledge and research

  • research reviews
  • articles
  • reports
  • source materials
  • interpretation of research findings
Go to the knowledge library →

Education

  • materials for schools
  • materials for parents
  • materials for children
  • awareness-raising work
Materials for schools →

Noise Fighters

An education programme for children in which we talk about the sound environment in language suited to the pupils’ age.

About Noise Fighters →

Publications

The knowledge library collects studies prepared on the basis of scientific research, reports, standards and official guidance. The three most recent items are below.

See all publications →

Materials and tools

Alongside our publications we provide materials that help in discussing a school’s sound environment and in assessing conditions at a particular site.

Contact the Institute

You can get in touch with us about school acoustics, measurement, teaching materials, the Noise Fighters project and academic cooperation.

Go to contact →

Photographs marked with the AI symbol were generated using artificial intelligence.