Children’s annoyance reactions to aircraft and road traffic noise

Abstract

Since annoyance reactions of children to environmental noise have rarely been investigated, no source specific exposure-response relations are available. The aim of this paper is to investigate children's reactions to aircraft and road traffic noise and to derive exposure-response relations. To this end, children's annoyance reactions to aircraft and road traffic noise in both the home and the school setting were investigated using the data gathered in a cross-sectional multicenter study, carried out among 2844 children ͑age 9 -11 years͒ attending 89 primary schools around three European airports. An exposure-response relation was demonstrated between exposure to aircraft noise at school ͑L Aeq,7-23 h ͒ and severe annoyance in children: after adjustment for confounders, the percentage severely annoyed children was predicted to increase from about 5.1% at 50 dB to about 12.1% at 60 dB. The findings were consistent across the three samples. Aircraft noise at home ͑L Aeq,7-23 h ͒ demonstrated a similar relation with severe annoyance. Children attending schools with higher road traffic noise ͑L Aeq,7-23 h ͒ were more annoyed. Although children were less annoyed at levels above 55 dB, the shapes of the exposure-response relations found among children were comparable to those found in their parents.

Health Effects of Noise Exposure in Children

“…In the cross-sectional multi-country RANCH study, a curvilinear exposure response relationship was demonstrated between exposure to aircraft noise at school and severe annoyance in children adjusting for confounding factors [18]. The percentage of severely annoyed children increased from about 5.1 % at 50 dB to 12.1 % at 60 dB.…”

The role of annoyance in the relation between transportation noise and children’s health and cognition

“…Furthermore, recent studies have revealed that children indeed are capable of distinguishing annoyance and perceived health as measured by means of self-reported symptoms. 8,35 …”

“…Psychometric results justify the use of a simple sum-score of these items. 8 When participants answered that they suffered at least once a week from headache, vomiting, stomachache, difficulty falling asleep, or were woken at night or felt sleepy during the day, this was scored as a "symptom." Subsequently, for every child the total number of "symptoms" was counted.…”

“…4,8 The final sample contained 2,844 children aged 9-11 years attending 89 primary schools in areas around Heathrow Airport ͑London, U.K.͒, Schiphol Airport ͑Amsterdam, The Netherlands͒ and Madrid-Barajas Airport ͑Spain͒. Schools were selected according to the modeled air and road traffic noise exposure of the school area ͑expressed as L Aeq,7-23 h ͒, and were matched on indicators of socio-economic status ͑SES͒ and ethnicity.…”

“…And as in adults, noise exposure was related to a significant increase of the percentage annoyed children. 8 It is assumed that a negative appraisal is manifest in a high annoyance score. 7 The aim of the current analysis is to find out whether annoyance might have played a role in the association between noise and cognitive functioning and health, using data collected in the framework of the European 5 th Framework RANCH project ͑Road traffic and Aircraft Noise exposure and Children's cognition and Health͒.…”