Analysis of Impact of Natural Ventilation Strategies in Ventilation Rates and Indoor Environmental Acoustics Using Sensor Measurement Data in Educational Buildings De la Hoz Torres, María Luisa Aguilar Aguilera, Antonio Jesús Ruiz Padillo, Diego Pablo Martínez Aires, María Dolores Buildings Ventilation rate Indoor air quality Natural ventilation COVID-19 Indoor environmental conditions can significantly affect occupants’ health and comfort. These conditions are especially important in educational buildings, where students, teachers and staff spend long periods of the day and are vulnerable to these factors. Recently, indoor air quality has been a focus of attention to ensure that disease transmission in these spaces is minimised. In order to increase the knowledge in this field, experimental tests have been carried out to characterise the impact of natural ventilation strategies on indoor air quality and the acoustic environment. This study has evaluated three ventilation scenarios in four different classrooms in buildings of the University of Granada, considering different window and door opening configurations. Ventilation rates were estimated using the CO2 Decay Method, and background noise recordings were made in each classroom for acoustic tests. Results show that specific natural ventilation strategies have a relevant impact that is worth considering on the background noise in indoor spaces. In this sense ventilation rates provided by the different configurations varied between 3.7 and 39.8 air changes per hour (ACH) and the acoustic tests show a background noise ranging from 43 to 54 dBA in these scenarios. Consequently, managers and teachers should take into account not only the ACH, but also other collateral impacts on the indoor environmental conditions such as the thermal comfort or the acoustic environment. 2021-11-08T10:48:50Z 2021-11-08T10:48:50Z 2021 journal article de la Hoz-Torres, M.L.; Aguilar, A.J.; Ruiz, D.P.; Martínez-Aires, M.D. Analysis of Impact of Natural Ventilation Strategies in Ventilation Rates and Indoor Environmental Acoustics Using Sensor Measurement Data in Educational Buildings. Sensors 2021, 21, 6122. https://doi.org/10.3390/ s21186122 http://hdl.handle.net/10481/71360 10.3390/s21186122 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ open access Atribución 3.0 España MDPI