Traffic noise hurts children's brains
Traffic noise hurts children's brains
As awareness grows of the toll noise has on children's health and learning, some cities show the way to quieter roads and classrooms.
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As a result of Bronzaft's findings, the Transit Authority installed rubber pads on the tracks to reduce noise, and the Board of Education equipped classrooms with sound-absorbing materials to create a better learning environment.
A 2022 study found that road traffic noise experienced by primary school children in Barcelona, Spain, slowed down their working memory and attention span, which is considered essential for many aspects of learning including problem-solving, reasoning, mathematics, and language comprehension.
The Barcelona study, which built on previous research, found that noise levels generated by road, air and rail traffic can have a negative impact on children's cognitive function during the crucial stages of brain development.
"If a child has poor working memory and if their selective attention or their inhibitory control is not great, then they are going to be much more distracted by the noise around them," says Natasha Kirkham, co-author of the study and a professor in developmental psychology at Birkbeck University in London.
"If you constantly feel aroused by sound, this could increase the cortisol response related to stress, and over time can have detrimental effects on physical and emotional health from childhood into adulthood," says Iroise Dumontheill, professor of cognitive neuroscience at Birkbeck University in London.
Continuous exposure to noise in the long term can interfere with the central nervous system and brain, increasing the likelihood of developing heart disease, stroke, dementia, and cognitive decline.
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