by Arline L. Bronzaft, Ph.D., Board of Directors, GrowNYC, and Co-founder, The Quiet Coalition
As an educator, psychologist and researcher on the effects of noise on children’s learning, I have been long interested in the sounds to which children and teachers are exposed to in the classroom. While the literature is indeed plentiful on the dangers of loud sounds and noise to the hearing of young children, as well as to the impacts of noise to their cognition and learning abilities, and my own writings have noted that noise in the classroom disrupts teaching, little has been said about the impacts of loud sounds and noise to which teachers of young children are exposed.
Now we have this study from Sweden that has found hearing-related problems in preschool women teachers that is considerably higher than would be expected. I am looking forward to reading the published study of this paper to learn more about the methodology and specific findings but still, based on this report, would suggest that there be additional studies in other countries, including the U.S. If indeed these findings hold up, then the design of schools with a special emphasis on the acoustics must be given greater thought as the article suggests.
And better school design would also benefit the students. Groups of children tend to be noisy but even here the sound levels can be lessened with appropriate interventions and children can also be taught the importance of being quieter in reading sessions and at times when they read or draw on their own at their desks.
