The long-term effects of aircraft noise exposure on children's cognition: findings from the UK RANCH follow-up study

Abstract

Many studies have demonstrated that environmental noise exposure at school is associated with poorer reading ability. However, studies have yet to determine the long-term consequences of environmental noise exposure during school for later developmental outcomes. This paper presents a longitudinal follow-up of the UK RANCH cohort assessing whether aircraft noise exposure in primary school is associated with poorer reading comprehension in secondary school. The original RANCH study found a relationship between aircraft noise exposure at primary school and children's reading comprehension for 9-10 year old children attending schools around London Heathrow, Amsterdam Schiphol and Madrid Barajas airports. Six years after the original study, 461 participants aged 15-16y (48% of the UK baseline sample) completed a standardised reading test during group testing in their classroom. Aircraft noise exposure at school was assessed using Leaq16 contour data. Analyses found no significant effect of aircraft noise exposure at primary school or secondary school on reading comprehension assessed at secondary school, although there was a trend for both types of noise exposure to be associated with poorer reading comprehension. The study is limited by its small sample but the findings indicate that aircraft noise exposure at school could have long-term implications for children's cognitive development.