Noise Affects Children's Learning

Our Supporters at of The Quiet Coalition have alerted us to a new article by Dr. Arline Bronzaft, who presented on the public health impacts of noise at the March meeting of the Westchester County Airport Advisory Board.  The Quiet Coalition is an organization of science, health, and legal professionals concerned about the impacts of noise on health, environment, learning, productivity, and quality of life in America.

Daniel Fink, MD, Chair of The Quiet Coalition writes:

"This wonderful piece by noise pioneer Arline Bronzaft, PhD, one of The Quiet Coalition’s founders, summarizes her work and the work of others on how noise affects children’s learning.

Noise interferes with human function by disturbing concentration and interfering with communication. The EPA determined that “library quiet”-- that is, a 45 dBA ambient noise level--is necessary to allow 100% speech intelligibility (see text at Figure D-1). Not surprisingly, when transportation noise intrudes into the classroom, children can’t hear what the teacher says, and this interferes with their learning.

Dr. Bronzaft’s article includes links to her groundbreaking work.

The Acoustical Society of America and the American National Standards Institute developed a standard for classroom acoustics, and more information is available at this link."

Arline L. Bronzaft, Ph.D., is a professor emerita of Lehman College, City University of New York and a co-founder of The Quiet Coalition.

We thank the Quiet Coalition for supplying us with expertise, research and encouragement in our quest for quiet skies in Westchester and the surrounding area.  Please consider supporting them and subscribing to their Silencity newsletter.

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