The effects of Noise and Sleep Disturbance on Children's Health and Education

An article that appeared in our recent newsletter aroused a lot of interest and we have been asked to supply the sources from which it drew. The article in question discussed, at some length, the effects of noise and particularly aircraft noise on children’s health and education.

The possible reason that it garnered such attention is because it pointed out the blindingly obvious but frequently forgotten fact that however badly noise might affect adults, it is much worse for children, if only for the fact that their hearing is so much better and therefore much more potentially damaging, than for their parents.

Here are the relevant sources:

Cordis EU: Protecting our children from noise pollution

The Lancet, 365:1942-1949: Aircraft and road traffic noise and children’s cognition

National Library of Medicine (USA): Exposure-effect relation between aircraft and road traffic noise exposure at school and reading comprehension

The definitive study of aircraft noise and children was completed in the RANCH project, a major pan-European initiative. Its most damning conclusion come in one of its opening remarks: “Strong consistent negative link with reading comprehension and memory in children.”

There is little room here for any doubt or equivocation here.

For more sources, simply Google “children’s health and education and aircraft noise”.