Are classrooms in historical buildings compatible with good acoustics standards?

Many surveys and researches have underlined that the acoustic characteristics of classrooms are strictly connected to performances of students and to the stress of the teachers during lessons. In standard classrooms sound quality can be easily reached without sound amplification but introducing appropriate sound absorbing/scattering materials at the ceiling and/or at the vertical walls. Nevertheless in historical buildings with vaults or trusses, high walls and many architectural restrictions imposed by district superintendent, it could be very difficult to achieve good acoustics standards with widespread solutions. In this paper the acoustic performances of different classrooms in an historical Monastery actually center of the Faculty of Architecture of the Second University of Naples are analyzed. After these analyses, compatible architectural and acoustic solutions to improve the sound quality were developed and tested in laboratory measurements and then applied in some classrooms to verify the benefits.