Kids near airports don’t read as well because they tune out speech, Cornell study finds.

ITHACA, N.Y. Children in schools bombarded by frequent aircraft noise don’t learn to read as well as children in quiet schools, Cotnell University researchers have confirmed and they have discovered one major reason: kids tune out speech in the racket.

"We’ve known for a long time that chronic noise is having a devastating effect in the academic performance of children in noisy homes and schools," says Gary Evans, an international expert on environmental stress, such as noise, crowding and air pollution "This study shows that children don’t tune out sound per se, rather they have difficulty acquiring speech recognition skills."
Evans also suspects that other factors may be at work in noisy schools and neighborhoods, such as teacher and parent irritability and their reluctance to talk as much, use as many complete sentences and read aloud as often as other teachers and parents.
These effects have all been well documented," says Evans. "Unfortunately, we're experiencing exponential increases in worldwide, ambient noise levels that are a byproduct of economic development, particularly prevalent among economically underdeveloped countries·"

Airport noise is harmful to the health and well-being of children and may cause lifelong problems, Cornell study shows.

ITHACA, N.Y. — The constant roar from jet aircraft can seriously affect the health and psychological well-being of children, according to a Cornell University study. The health problems resulting from chronic airport noise, including higher blood pressure and boosted levels of stress hormones, the researchers say, may have lifelong effects.

"This study is probably the most definitive proof that noise causes stress and is harmful to humans," says Gary Evans, a professor of design and environmental analysis in Cornell’s College of Human Ecology. This is, he says, the first longitudinal study of noise and human beings to look at the same group of individuals before and after noise pollution.

Boosts in stress hormones also are of concern because they indicate that noise induces physiological stress. These hormones are linked to adult illnesses, some of which are life-threatening, including high blood pressure, elevated lipids and cholesterol, heart disease and a reduction in the body’s supply of disease-fighting immune cells.

The study was supported, in part, by the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, the National Institutes of Health, the Nordic Scientific Group for Noise Effects, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the German Research Foundation.