The effect of environmental noise on children’s reading ability and behaviour in Europe

Health effects from transport noise on children

Environmental noise from transport sources such as vehicles, trains and aircraft is among the most damaging environmental factors to health in Europe after air pollution (Hänninen et al., 2014). Living in an area affected by transport noise is associated with an increased risk of developing a wide range of health issues, including cardiovascular, metabolic and mental health diseases. Chronic exposure to transport noise can also negatively affect children, especially because they are in an important learning and developmental phase (Clark and Paunovic, 2018). Growing evidence suggests that children that are exposed to transport noise at school or at home are more likely to suffer certain types of cognitive, learning, behavioral problems and obesity (ETC HE, 2024). In addition, recent work on cognitive development in adolescents found that traffic noise was associated with anxiety (Thompson et al., 2024) and that early life exposure to transport noise could also lead to mental health issues in adulthood (Newbury et al., 2024). Based on the latest evidence, this briefing presents the estimated impact of transport noise (road, rail and air) on the reading and behaviour of children in Europe. The full findings and methodology are described in the report Health effects of transportation noise for children and adolescents: an umbrella review and burden of disease estimation from the European Topic Center on Human Health and the Environment (ETC HE) (ETC HE, 2024).

Exposure of Europe’s population to transport noise

Exposure to noise from transport sources, in particular road traffic noise, is a major environmental problem in Europe. Over 20% of the EU’s population, including children, live in areas where traffic noise levels are harmful to health (EEA, 2021). In many urban areas, this percentage is much higher, reaching 50%. Approximately 14 million children aged 6-17 in Europe (including Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) are exposed to average transport noise levels of 55dB or higher. Recent evidence indicates that the risk of cognitive and behavioural problems in children begins to increase at schools where the outdoor levels are even below this threshold (Clark and Paunovic, 2018; Clark et al., 2021; Schubert et al., 2019; Thompson et al., 2022). Additionally, other studies have found negative effects associated with children’s exposure to traffic noise at home (Hjortebjerg et al., 2016; Tangermann et al., 2022).

Assessing the impacts of transportation noise on children’s health

The methodology used in this assessment is described by the ETC HE (ETC HE, 2024). This analysis incorporates data on the population exposed to noise levels exceeding 55dB L_den (day-evening-night level) from major roads, railways and airports as well as from roads, railways and airports within urban agglomerations of over 100,000 inhabitants as outlined in the END. Table 1 presents the key aspects of the noise health risk assessment for children in Europe.

Impact of transport noise on children’s reading ability and behaviour in Europe

Based on current figures, the ETC HE has estimated the extent to which exposure to road, rail and air transport noise affect the reading ability and behaviour of children in Europe. The results are summarised in Table 2 below.

Almost 550,000 cases of reading ability impairment a year are estimated to be due to environmental transport noise in Europe. Most of these cases (84%) are due to noise from road traffic, especially inside urban areas, followed by rail traffic (15%) and air transport (about 1%). In addition, almost 60,000 cases of behavioural difficulties annually are due to environmental transport noise in Europe, where again, a majority (about 86%) of cases are due to road traffic noise, mostly inside urban areas.

Uneven and incomplete coverage leads to underestimating the impacts of noise

The calculated impact of 550,0000 cases of impaired reading and 60,000 cases of behavioural difficulties from environmental noise should be considered an underestimate. This is primarily because the data reported under the END do not comprehensively cover all roads, rail networks, airports and agglomerations. They only cover roads transited by more than three million vehicles a year, railways with more than 30,000 trains a year, airports with more than 50,000 movements a year and agglomerations of more than 100,000 inhabitants.

In addition to this restricted coverage, not all cities map road and rail noise across all, or even most, streets. Some cities map the majority of their streets while others map only the busiest streets. As a result, there is not only an underestimation of impacts due to the coverage limitations of the END, but also a significant underestimation in certain urban areas resulting from incomplete noise mapping. Countries that conduct a comprehensive mapping of urban roads and streets are better positioned to capture the true extent of the impacts of environmental transport noise. The street coverage of each city can be seen in the EEA’s noise viewer.

Finally, the impacts of transport noise on children may start at levels below the END thresholds used in this assessment.

Possible interventions

Currently, there is a limited number of policy measures that limit children’s exposure to noise from transport. WHO has made the most relevant recommendations. WHO guidelines for community noise (Bjerglund, 1999) recommend that noise levels in school playgrounds should not exceed 55dB(A), while indoor classroom noise levels should not exceed 35dB(A) (EEA, 2020).

Reducing children’s exposure to environmental noise from road, railway and air transport at home and at school can help decrease cases of reading impairment and behavioural problems. Studies have found that reduced levels of transport noise can help mitigate the adverse effects on children, which include deficits in cognitive functions, elevated stress biomarkers and lower perceived quality of life (Evans et al., 1998; Hygge et al., 2002), highlighting the potential benefits of noise abatement strategies. Importantly, some research also shows that cognitive deficits may diminish over time once the source of noise is eliminated  (Hygge et al., 2002). This emphasises the necessity for timely actions and long-term planning in areas where children can be exposed to transportation noise. Additionally, studies evaluating interventions such as building modifications in schools have demonstrated improvements in terms of enhanced student concentration and decreased aggression (Polewczyk and Jarosz, 2020). Awareness interventions have also showed positive results in children in terms of understanding noise as a pollutant (Gilles and Paul, 2014; Christidou et al., 2015).

Table 3 shows a compilation of possible mitigation measures that can be implemented at schools and in the home environment to reduce the impact of transportation noise on children’s health.

Conclusions

A very large proportion of the population in Europe — more than 20% — is exposed to long-term levels of transportation noise that are considered to be harmful to health. Consequently, it is estimated that the same proportion of children is also exposed to levels of noise that can have detrimental effects in their learning development. It is conservatively estimated that there are more than 500,000 children with impaired reading ability due to transportation noise from road, rail and air transport. In addition to this, almost 60,000 could also be having behavioural difficulties. Given the large number of children exposed to transport noise in residential environments and at schools, implementing policies to reduce transport noise could help in mitigating the detrimental effects of noise on learning.

Reducing exposure both at home and at schools would minimise these adverse outcomes for children, which may affect their lifelong opportunities and quality of life. There is a wide range of interventions that can be applied to reduce noise exposure and increase related community health outcomes, including for children.