The present paper provides an overview of research concerning both acute and chronic effects of exposure to noise on children's cognitive performance. Experimental studies addressing the impact of acute exposure showed negative effects on speech perception and listening comprehension. These effects are more pronounced in children as compared to adults. Children with language or attention disorders and second-language learners are still more impaired than age-matched controls. Noise-induced disruption was also found for non-auditory tasks, i.e., serial recall of visually presented lists and reading. The impact of chronic exposure to noise was examined in quasi-experimental studies. Indoor noise and reverberation in classroom settings were found to be associated with poorer performance of the children in verbal tasks. Regarding chronic exposure to aircraft noise, studies consistently found that high exposure is associated with lower reading performance. Even though the reported effects are usually small in magnitude, and confounding variables were not always sufficiently controlled, policy makers responsible for noise abatement should be aware of the potential impact of environmental noise on children's development.

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A review of the literature shows that our knowledge concerning effects of chronic aircraft noise exposure on children is still limited and does not allow well-founded predictions for children living in specific noise-exposed areas. In this study, we investigated effects of aircraft noise on cognition and quality of life in 1,243 second graders from 29 schools around Frankfurt/Main Airport in Germany. Although exposure levels at schools were below 60 dB and thus considerably lower than in previous studies, multilevel analyses revealed that increasing exposure was linearly associated with less positive ratings of quality of life, increasing noise annoyance, and decreasing reading performance. A 20 dB increase in aircraft noise exposure was associated with a decrease in reading scores of one fifth of a standard deviation, corresponding to a reading delay of about 2 months. No effects were found for verbal precursors of reading acquisition. Teachers’ reports (N = 84) indicate that severe disruptions of classroom instruction due to aircraft noise may contribute to the effect on reading.

This study investigated first (L1) and second (L2) language acquisition in two agematched groups of 2-to 6-year-old kindergarten children over the course of 2.5 years. The immersion group participated in a partial English immersion program whereas the conventional instruction group received a conventional L2 course (30 minutes per week); the groups were comparable with respect to control variables (e.g., socioeconomic status). L1 and L2 competencies were assessed at four time points (pretest and three posttests). No detrimental effects of immersion on L1 development were found. Concerning L2 receptive skills, the immersion group outperformed the conventional instruction group in each posttest. Contact quality and quantity were found to relate to L2 acquisition through immersion. Immersion appears to be a successful method for early L2 learning; it fosters L2 receptive skills without any cost for the L1.

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