ReviewFrontiers in psychology2013
Does noise affect learning? A short review on noise effects on cognitive performance in children.
Review in Frontiers in psychology, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 127 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
127 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The effects of classroom acoustic quality on student perception and wellbeing: a systematic review across educational levels.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Pooled it
- The Effects of Noise on Cognitive Performance and Helplessness in Childhood: A Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Prevalence and global estimates of unsafe listening practices in adolescents and young adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ global health · 2022Pooled it
- A qualitative and quantitative synthesis of the impacts of COVID-19 on soundscapes: A systematic review and meta-analysis.The Science of the total environment · 2022Pooled it
- Is Brief Exposure to Green Space in School the Best Option to Improve Attention in Children?International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Auditory Distraction During Reading: A Bayesian Meta-Analysis of a Continuing Controversy.Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2018Pooled it
- WHO Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region: A Systematic Review on Environmental Noise and Cognition.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2018Pooled it
- Long-Term Green Space Exposure and Cognition Across the Life Course: a Systematic Review.Current environmental health reports · 2016Pooled it
- The interactive effect of occupational noise on attention and short-term memory: A pilot study.Noise & healthTrial
- Exposure of children to multiple long-term air pollutants (PMEnvironmental research letters : ERL [Web site] · 2026Article
- Bouncing back: Transient, but not long-lasting, effects of background disturbances on speech processing.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Detection, communication, and individual identification with deep audio embeddings: A case study with North Atlantic right whales.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- The Influence of Noise Perception and Parent-Rated Developmental Characteristics on White Noise Benefits in Children.Journal of eye movement research · 2026Article
- Language Comprehension in Background Noise - Effects of Noise Type and Task Modality.Journal of cognition · 2026Article
- Environmental, biological and cognitive monitoring of children in European primary schools: LEARN crossover study protocol.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Anti-distraction learning: focused attention, task engagement, and flow under cognitive interference.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- The influence of complex classroom noise on auditory selective attention.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The impact of classroom soundfield systems on reading fluency in normal-hearing students.NPJ science of learning · 2025Article
- Preschool Hearing Screening: Nineteen Years of the Coração Delta Project in Campo Maior, Portugal.Audiology research · 2025Article
- The A.BA.CO. Project and Efforts to Optimize Access to the Sounds of Learning.Audiology research · 2025Article
67 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
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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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.