c clark, r martin, e van kempen, h davies, m m haines, j head,
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Exposure-effect relationships between road traffic and aircraft noise exposure and reading
comprehension: The RANCH Project.
www.ranchproject.org
C Clark, R Martin, E van Kempen, H Davies, M M Haines, J Head, I Lopez-Barrio, M Matheson, S Stansfeld.
Queen Mary, University of London, UKUniversity of Stockholm, Sweden
CSIC Madrid, SpainRIVM, Bilthoven NetherlandsGöteborg University, Sweden
– Los Angeles Airport Study (Cohen et al., 1980, 1981)
– New York Airport City (Evans & Maxwell, 1997)
– Munich airport study (Evans et al., 1995; 1998)
– Heathrow studies (Haines et al., 2001 a,b,c; 2002)
Aircraft, road traffic & rail noise - the international studies
Over twenty studies have reported that noise adversely affects children’s academic
performance
• Effects demonstrated for aircraft and road traffic noise
• Effects not always demonstrated after adjustment for socioeconomic status
• Effects may be reversible - Munich Study
• Mechanisms:
– Restrict attention to central cues
– Reduce learning motivation
Noise Exposure & Reading Comprehension - the international studies
Gaps at the start of RANCHGaps at the start of RANCH
•No exposure-effect relationships for noise and children’s health and cognition
•Fewer studies of the effects of road traffic noise
•No knowledge about the effect of combined noise
exposure
•No comparison of effect size across countries
•Noise guideline values based on health effects for
adults were proposed for children. A child evidence
base was required
Objectives of the RANCH projectObjectives of the RANCH project •To provide knowledge on exposure-effect relationships between chronic exposure to noise at school and children’s cognition and health
- for aircraft noise
- for road traffic noise
- for combinations of aircraft and road traffic noise
•To provide knowledge on–the total impact of the sound environment –the relationship between road traffic noise and children’s sleep
•To provide guidelines for a pan-European policy taking advantage of the cross-border environmental diversity of four European countries
Heathrow airport, London, United Kingdom
Schiphol airport, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Barajas airport, Madrid, Spain
•Common methodology between countries
•Examine exposure-effect relationships in 9-10 year old children between chronic exposure to noise at school and
•cognitive function
•health
•noise annoyance
Airport Field Studies
School Selection Protocol
• Selection of study area, identification of primary
schools
• Exclusion of non-state schools
• Schools matched within countries for socioeconomic
status and main language spoken
School Noise PredictionAircraft Noise
• Based on 16 hour outdoor LAeq contours
Road Traffic Noise
• In the NL, provided by modelled data using the EMPARA model
• In the UK & Spain, based on proximity to roads and traffic flow
- data confirmed by on-site noise measurements
• Noise surveys at 4m distance from facade of main school
entrance (exclusion of schools with insulation or other
dominant noise source)
Noise Exposure Bandings
Road
Aircraft
R4
R3
R2
R1
A4
A3
A2
A1
71dB
32 dB
30 dB
77dB
2 schools selected per cell based on SES matching and noise
prediction
Reading Comprehension
- Assessed using nationally standardised tests in each
country.
• UK - Suffolk Reading Scale (Hagley, 2002)
• Spain - ECL-2 (de la Cruz, 1999)
• NL - CITO Readability Index (Staphorsius, 1994)
Socioeconomic Variables
-Assessed in questionnaires completed by the child and
parent.
Measures
Procedure
• Children aged 9-10 years
• No children excluded from selected classes
• Written consent from parents and children
• Classroom based testing with careful monitoring
• Standardised test procedures and instructions
• Acute noise measurement during testing
Sociodemographic Outcomes• age
• gender
• employment status
• crowding
• home ownership
• mother’s educational attainment
• long standing illness
• main language
• classroom glazing
• parental support for school work
Same measures achieved across all three countries
Participation rates
63%90%27920Spain
86%89%33730Netherlands
78%89%291182UK
ParentResponse Rate
Child Response Rate
No of schools
No ofchildren
Data pooled and analysed using multilevel modelling
Relationship between aircraft noise exposure and reading comprehension
B = change in outcome score associated with 1db change in noise
NB: Multi-level Models adjusted for centre, age, gender, employment status, crowding, home ownership, mother’s education, long standing illness, main language and parental support.
Aircraft Noise B SE ConfidenceInterval (95% )
p value from χ 2
Pooled estimate -.009 .003 -.015 to -.003 .001
UK -.010 .004 -.018 to -.002
NL -.004 .006 -.016 to .008
Spain -.009 .004 -.017 to -.001
Exposure-Effect relationship for Aircraft Noise Exposure and Reading
Comprehension
-.2
0.2
.4R
eadi
ng Z
-sco
re
30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70aircraft noise dB(A)
Reading age was delayed by up to 2 months in the UK and
1 month in the NL for a 5dB change in noise exposure
Adjusted for age, gender and country
Relationship between road traffic noise exposure and reading comprehension
B = change in outcome score associated with 1db change in noise
NB: Multi-level Models adjusted for centre, age, gender, employment status, crowding, home ownership, mother’s education, long standing illness, main language and parental support.
Road traffic noise B SE ConfidenceInterval (95% )
p value from χ 2
Pooled estimate .002 .003 -.004 to .008 .445
UK -.002 .005 -.012 to .008
NL .003 .005 -.007 to .013
Spain .011 .007 -.003 to .025
Exposure-Effect relationship for Road Traffic Noise Exposure and Reading
Comprehension
-.6
-.4
-.2
0.2
.4R
eadi
ng Z
-sco
re
30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70road traffic noise dB(A)
Adjusted for age, gender and country
Discussion
• Inverse, linear relationship between aircraft noise exposure
and reading comprehension in all three countries
• This relationship could not be accounted for by
socioeconomic variables nor acute noise.
• Confirms the influence of chronic aircraft noise exposure on
reading comprehension.
Why an effect for aircraft noise and not road traffic noise?
• No relationship between road traffic noise and reading
comprehension in all three countries
• However, we cannot rule out an effect of road traffic noise at
higher levels - > 71dB
• Aircraft noise = greater intensity - high short term levels
• Road traffic noise = more constant
Conclusions
• Similar effects of noise on reading performance across Spain, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom
• Action is recommended at a European level to provide healthy educational environments for children attending high noise exposed schools
• Noise exposure should be considered with other environmental aspects in the school planning process
Some remaining questions
Long-term exposure
Do impairments diminish if children are removed from noisy
environments or increase if children remain in noisy
environments?
Intervention
Does sound insulation have ameliorative effect on impairments in
cognitive performance?
Mechanisms
What role do classroom acoustics and noise interference in
teacher communication play in the causation of noise effects?
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