Quiet please! – The impact of background noise on children’s literacy learning
Written by Gemma Goldenberg for Early Years Educator Volume 23, Issue 912, Mar 2022
It is well established that early literacy skills are vital in providing a foundation upon which to build more formal reading and writing skills in the future and are an important predictor of later school success. Expanding children’s vocabulary, developing phonological awareness and providing opportunities for speaking and listening are key aims for most early years settings. But how well do our learning environments provide the right conditions for such crucial learning?
It has been claimed that schools are noisier places today than ever before, for various reasons including increased class sizes, changes in pedagogy, noise from appliances such as computers and fans, and increased external traffic noise due to urbanisation (Norlander et al, 2005). What’s more, studies have consistently shown that young children are far more vulnerable to poor acoustic conditions than older children and adults (Klatte et al, 2013; Shield and Dockrell, 2003).
Both internal noise (such as chatter and chair scraping within the classroom) and external noise (e.g. traffic or construction from outside) have been found to have a detrimental effect on children’s performance in school, affecting a wide range of outcomes from task completion to second language acquisition. Tasks that are heavily reliant on listening and comprehension are thought to be worst affected (Haines et al, 2002).
A recent systematic review and meta-analysis (Thompson et al, 2021) concluded that whilst the quality of research in this field is variable, overall evidence suggests that noise exposure is associated with cognition. Some of the strongest evidence supports an association between noise, reading and language.
Other reviews found that noise and reverberation in classrooms were associated with lower performance in verbal tasks (Klatte et al, 2013) and comprehension activities (Lamotte et al, 2021).
Yet this issue is complex; these reviews were not based on research exclusively from Early Years settings which are places where children are rightly encouraged to play, chatter and explore. It is not possible, or desirable, to implement a silent Early Years classroom. So what do practitioners need to know about the effects of background noise? And what can be done to mitigate these without compromising your pedagogical approach?
Why does noise particularly affect learning for younger children?
Successfully comprehending speech in noisy conditions involves 3 key things: being able to hear the speech over the background noise, separating the speech from the other noises and then attending to the speech rather than other noise signals (Erickson and Newman, 2010). This process is more difficult for young children - they have more limited language knowledge and have not yet fully developed their capacity to recognise and decipher speech amongst noise (this ability develops throughout childhood, improving until the teenage years).
An important factor when considering classroom noise is the ‘signal to noise ratio’ (SNR). This is the volume of the teacher’s voice (or target for listening) compared to the volume of background noise. Ideal values vary but in general it is advised that speech is 15-25db louder than the background noise in a classroom (Shield and Dockrell. 2003). The SNR should be higher for younger children. Research has shown that in classrooms with a poor signal to noise ratio, considerable listening effort is required (Howard et al, 2010). This listening effort comes at a cost; it places greater cognitive demands on the child so that they have fewer cognitive resources for other tasks, this may therefore affect the child’s speed of information processing and ability to learn and perform at the expected pace (Howard et al, 2010) and can also affect working memory performance (Osman and Sullivan, 2014).
Along with the SNR, reverberation (how much sound echoes around the room), the overall noise level and the pitch of background noise all make up the child’s acoustic experience in the learning environment. Long reverberation times have been shown to interfere with children’s ability to understand speech (Manlove et al, 2001) and other research has shown that toddlers and infants can struggle to recognise their name and other common words when there is speech in the background, particularly if it is from a single talker (Newman, 2009).
Research on noise in EYFS settings
A study of pre-school children (Maxwell and Evans, 1999) asserted that noisy classrooms may prevent children from properly listening to other’s speech, which in turn affects their own language acquisition and later in life, their reading development. The pre-reading and language skills of 3-5 year olds were tested before and after sound absorbent panels had been installed at childcare centre with poor acoustics. In the quieter condition, children performed significantly better on letter and word recognition, and were more likely to speak in complete sentences. This is supported by findings from an experimental study which found that children who learnt new words in an environment with a lower signal-to-noise ratio, produced the words less accurately (Riley and McGregor, 2012).
Other research suggests that over time, children can adapt to the noise level in their learning environment. When looking at performance on attentional tasks, whilst children from noisy day care centres performed better in noisy conditions, those from quieter childcare settings performed better in quiet conditions (Hambrick-Dixon, 1986).
Is noise always a problem?
It is likely that background noise does not have universal effects and that its impact on learning depends on the type of noise, the learning task that’s being completed, and individual differences between learners.
There is evidence to suggest that children who are at higher risk of learning difficulties and poor academic achievement are particularly susceptible to background noise (Bhang et al, 2018). Children with attention or language disorders, as well as second-language learners have also been found to show more pronounced effects of noise exposure on speech perception and listening comprehension (Klatte et al, 2013).
Some children will have a much higher tolerance for background noise than others. Children who have grown up in noisier home environments may have learnt to tune out background noise more effectively than those raised in quieter homes. However, adapting to filter out background noise may not necessarily be an advantage - some research suggests that children often over-generalise this strategy, screening out too much and missing important information (Maxwell and Evans, 1999).
Of course it is not only students who are affected. Teachers are also vulnerable to the stressful effects of excess noise. Teachers in noisier schools report more annoyance and fatigue and less patience than counterparts in quieter schools and this may affect teacher wellbeing as well as their interactions with students (Evans, 2006). In noisy environments teachers also risk straining their voices in an effort to be heard. Teachers are 32 times more likely to experience vocal problems than those in other professions (Smallman, 2006).
Research on noise levels in the classroom has been given relatively little attention, yet it may play an important role in effectively supporting some of the most vulnerable learners to develop early literacy skills. Given that research shows huge disparity in pre-schoolers vocabulary, depending on their socio-economic status (Fernald et al, 2013), for Early Years educators to close such gaps and foster secure literacy skills, the learning environment must enable learners to hear their teachers and peers properly. The box below gives some suggestions for how this might be achieved.
What can be done?
Gather staff and children’s perception of noise levels in the setting. Who finds it too noisy and how does it affect them?
If some children struggle with noise, is there a place where they can choose to go for a quiet break? Options include small tents and tepees indoors, quiet corners (with soft materials to reduce reverberation), ear defenders and outdoor spaces.
Make an effort to speak clearly - it can make a big difference. One study showed that clear speech can aid children’s vocabulary growth, even in noisy environments (Riley and McGregor, 2012).
Supplement listening based activities with visual aids
Consider which activities might require quieter conditions. Can these move to a quieter location or take place in smaller groups? Can they be timetabled when there is minimal external noise?
A visual representation of noise levels can help children adjust their own volume. There are various apps that can be used on classroom computers and whiteboards https://www.weareteachers.com/classroom-noise-monitor-apps/ or a decibel meter could be placed in the classroom.
Put felt pads under chairs and tables to reduce scraping sounds and add pads to doors that slam to reduce internal noise
Learning outdoors can often reduce the intensity of background noise as the sounds do not reverberate off internal walls and students typically have more space in which to spread out.
Gemma is currently conducting research into the effect of the learning environment. You can follow her research on Instagram @phd_and_three where she also shares research summaries of relevant studies in this field.
References
Bhang, S. Y., Yoon, J., Sung, J., Yoo, C., Sim, C., Lee, C., ... & Lee, J. (2018). Comparing attention and cognitive function in school children across noise conditions: A quasi-experimental study. Psychiatry Investigation, 15(6), 620.
Evans, G. W. (2006). Child development and the physical environment. Annu. Rev. Psychol., 57, 423-451.
Erickson, L. C., & Newman, R. S. (2017). Influences of background noise on infants and children. Current directions in psychological science, 26(5), 451-457.
Fernald, A., V.A. Marchman, & A. Weisleder. 2013. “SES Differences in Language Processing Skill and Vocabulary Are Evident at 18 Months.” Developmental Science 16 (2): 234–48.
Haines, M. M., Stansfeld, S. A., Head, J., & Job, R. F. S. (2002). Multilevel modelling of aircraft noise on performance tests in schools around Heathrow Airport London. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 56(2), 139-144.
Hambrick-Dixon, P. J. (1986). Effects of experimentally imposed noise on task performance of Black children attending day care centers near elevated subway trains. Developmental Psychology, 22(2), 259.
Howard, C. S., Munro, K. J., & Plack, C. J. (2010). Listening effort at signal-to-noise ratios that are typical of the school classroom. International journal of audiology, 49(12), 928-932.
Klatte, M., Bergström, K., & Lachmann, T. (2013). Does noise affect learning? A short review on noise effects on cognitive performance in children. Frontiers in psychology, 4, 578.
Shield, B. M., & Dockrell, J. E. (2003). The effects of noise on children at school: A review. Building Acoustics, 10(2), 97-116.s. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 115(2), 730-738.
Lamotte, A. S., Essadek, A., Shadili, G., Perez, J. M., & Raft, J. (2021). The Impact of Classroom Chatter Noise on Comprehension: A Systematic Review. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 128(3), 1275-1291.
Manlove, E. E., Frank, T., & Vernon-Feagans, L. (2001, February). Why should we care about noise in classrooms and child care settings?. In Child and youth care forum (Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 55-64). Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers.
Maxwell, L.E., & Evans, G. (1999). The effects on pre-school children’s pre-reading skills. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 20, 91 – 97.
Newman, R. S. (2009). Infants’ listening in multitalker environments: Effect of the number of background talkers. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 71(4), 822-836.
Riley, K. G., & McGregor, K. K. (2012). Noise hampers children's expressive word learning. Language, speech, and hearing services in schools, 43(3), 325–337. https://doi.org/10.1044/0161-1461(2012/11-0053)
Smallman, E (2006) ‘Quiet at the back! Why classroom noise is the enemy of learning for schools’ https://inews.co.uk/news/education/school-classrooms-noise-sound-learning-327318
